“Clean They Shall Be”: Lessons From Mother Carey in Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies

By Ellie White

In The Water Babies, Charles Kingsley’s depiction of the fairy Mother Carey differs widely from that common during his time. Where the popular image of Mother Carey is that of a harsh sea spirit, Kingsley depicts her as a kind and benevolent nurturer. In “Mother Carey (As Told Me By The Bo’sun),” poet John Masefield voices the common perception of Mother Carey as a creator and nurturer of evil and hardships. He describes her as “the mother o’the witches / ‘N’ all them sort o’rips” (1-2). Here, the association with “witches” casts her as a supernatural, evil, and mysterious force. He goes on to describe her evil influence in more detail:

She’s the mother o’ the wrecks, ‘n’ the mother

Of all big winds as blows,; [sic]

She’s up to some deviltry or other

When it storms, or sleets, or snows. (9-12)

Masefield credits the idea of Mother Carey with controlling the weather, and thus being the author of any and all misfortune which falls on sailors from natural sources. In saying that “She’s the mother o’ the wrecks,”Masefield implies that Mother Carey is the mother – the creator and nurturer -of misery and death. Masefield continues to give a physical description of Mother Carey which casts her in quite a violent light:

She’s the blood o’ many a crew upon her

“N’ the bones of many a wreck,

“N’ she’s barnacles a-growin’ on her 

‘N’ shark’s teeth round her neck. (21-24)

Contrast this with the description given by Kingsley in The Water-Babies:

Tom went on to the iceberg, wondering. And, when he came near it, it took the form of the grandest old lady he had ever seen—a white marble lady, sitting on a white marble throne.  And from the foot of the throne there swum away, out and out into the sea, millions of new-born creatures, of more shapes and colours than man ever dreamed.  And they were Mother Carey’s children, whom she makes out of the sea-water all daylong. (Kingsley 153-154)

Instead of surrounding her with “bones,” “blood,” and “barnacles,” – common descriptors of death, dirt, and decay – Kingsley imagines Mother Carey as a “grand old lady.” The whiteness of her and her surroundings creates an image of purity. And instead of the death signaled by Mansfield’s depiction of a shipwreck, Kingsley describes “millions of new-born creatures,of more shapes and colours than man ever dreamed” swimming away from the throne. In short, Kingsley reimagines Mother Carey from the violently active creator of death found in the old legends to a peaceful and pure creator of life. To an audience familiar with descriptions of Mother Carey more closely aligned with Masefield’s description, Kingsley’s description would seem quite startling. Ultimately, Kingsley’s description combines moral and political influences in Victorian England in the character of Mother Carey in order to promote kindness towards the natural world.

In Victorian England, the didactic power of fairy tales and fables imbued them with particular social and political potency. Elaine Ostry, a scholar specializing in Victorian Literature argues that during this period, “moral growth was as important as, if not more so than, physical growth,”and that a child’s “moral development was as regulated as diet” (Ostry 27). Because of this, many authors consciously crafted their works to impart morality into the British youth. In fact, as Ostry argues, fairy tales become a substitute and supplement for moral guide books in Victorian England. Many works of fiction from the period take on the language of moral guidebooks in their “instructional dialogue, the use of the moral guide or mentor(ia), and the emphasis on wonder and growth” (Ostry 27). Ostry outlines several of the features copied from moral guidebooks into Victorian imaginative fiction. First, many of these books feature discussions between adults and children with moral guidance offered in the form of questions and answers, reminiscent of religious catechisms. These discussions also frequently feature inquiries into the moral failures of the child. Growth, whether moral or physical, becomes the subject of wonder and playfulness. Children are encouraged to sympathize with and learn along with the protagonist of the novels.

Morality, however, is not the only didactic focus of Victorian fiction. The scientific advances of the nineteenth century launched a new scientific wonder that is reflected in the imaginative literature of the period. During this time, several prominent individuals arose as “popularizers” of Victorian science, especially among religious and minority groups. The goal of popularizers was twofold. First, popularizers “made science more accessible by avoiding jargon and complex classification systems, and conveyed scientific information in an attractive literary style” (Lightman 163). In addition, they often “emphasized the moral and religious lessons to be learned through an understanding of nature, and they stressed the sense of wonder to be experienced when faced with its beauty” (Lightman 163). For this reason, the popularization of science was highly controversial for many years, as advocates from different fields each brought a distinct bias to the topic. Following the publication of Charles Darwin’s revolutionary work on evolution, there was a unique window of opportunity to shape the perception of science, and popularizers attempted to make the most of this opportunity by reconciling science with moral and religious viewpoints in the eyes of the public, even at the cost of decreased scientific accuracy.

 Imaginative scientific literature quickly became a common vehicle of popularizers as they sought “to address a rapidly developing mass reading audience” (Lightman 163). This was especially true of children’s literature, since it allowed for a suspense of disbelief more difficult to obtain in other types of literature. In particular, fairies became a metaphorical vehicle to convey the wonder which drives scientific discovery. The Victorian Era came just at the ending of the general superstitious belief in fairies. Superstition transitioned smoothly into a fantastic scientific wonder. Additionally, the availability of new technologies such as the microscope allowed for a new paradigm of discovery that highlighted a curious tension between two opposing forces. The microscope was both a tool of “rigorous scientific empiricism” and “a portal into the unknown and mysterious world of miniature life” (Forsberg 639). The microscope perfectly exemplifies the tension between the scientific and literary world of Victorian England. It opened an entirely new microscopic world of imagination. What had previously been purely imaginative and superstitious suddenly became very real. As this tension worked itself out, it was manifested in relationship between fact and fiction in children’s literature. 

There were two main schools of thought regarding this topic. One group of empirical scientists insisted on rigid and factual truth, denying the place of fantasy in the scientific process. Another group of scientists “posited wonder as the proper end of scientific study” (Forsberg 641). It is to this school that popularizers of Victorian science mainly belonged. According to this view, scientific fairy tales are meant to reveal the truth that “the marvels of the real world are greater than any fairy marvels that the child might imagine. The marvels of nature do not differ from the marvels of fairyland in kind, but only in truth” (Forsberg 662). That is, they did not view fairy tales as scientific truth, but simply as a tool to make scientific wonder accessible to the masses. While strictly empirical scientists argued that the popularization of science led to common inaccuracies and misconceptions, scientists who prescribed to a more relaxed view of the issue argued that these scientists “often failed to see what lay before their eyes, usually because of their over reliance on the alleged ‘facts’of science” (Forsberg 659).

Forsberg’s claim here may be drawn overly harshly, but the point remains that the imaginative power of fiction can help generate new ways of looking at the world. The tension between fact and fiction in literature expands the world of possibility, allowing for the propagation of new conceptual theories through imaginative metaphor. Rather than merely superstition, fairies became a tool for furthering scientific discovery.

Kingsley’s work is a product of these two functions of Victorian literature. An active clergyman, social activist, and popularizer of scientific concepts, Kingsley imbued his classic children’s story with moral, social, and scientific instruction. The doctrines of Christian Socialism deeply influenced Kingsley’s life and work, as did the theory of evolution. Therefore, in his own life, he had to reconcile two concepts which are seemingly at odds. Famously, Kingsley wrote to Thomas Henry Huxley that “Darwin’s theory of evolution had completely conditioned his way of thinking about God and nature” (Klaver 509). Most clearly, Kingsley aligns himself with the desire to restore childish wonder to the scientific discipline. His prose is filled with astonishment at each discovery that Tom, the young protagonist of the story, makes about the natural world. The scientific fascination with life in the miniature is seen in the text as well, as Tom and other characters literally find entire civilizations living in the world surrounding them, which would not be accessible to viewers of regular human size. Indeed, the scope of scientific ideas covered in The Water-Babies is quite broad, as Kingsley introduces characters ranging from creatures smaller than Tom himself to creatures as large as a Narwhal. In a perspective change similar to that caused by the development of the microscope, Kingsley explores a vast range of scientific topics. For instance, Charles Kingsley embeds the scientific process within The Water Babies (although very satirically) through characters such as Professor Ptthmllnsprts. More seriously, he fosters a sense of scientific wonder by bringing Tom close to the microscopic world. If water babies can exist in reality, what else might be hiding in the water? Kingsley proposes that the proper use of the scientific method is not to deny scientific principles simply because they have not yet been discovered yet, but rather to wonder at what “Nature can do, and has done, beyond all that man’s poor fancy can imagine” (Kingsley 90; ch. 4). Kingsley uses scientific knowledge as the basis for imagination, rather than limiting imagination to what has already been discovered through the scientific process.

In addition to the scientific concepts introduced in The Water-Babies, the novel also exemplifies the morally didactic function of Victorian children’s fiction. Kingsley’s text includes many of the features discussed by Ostry. He uses these features to teach a new sort of morality that involves kindness towards the world around us – including people, animals, and the environment. Following the pattern outlined by Ostry, much of Tom’s conscious education comes from conversation with the motherly mentor figure Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. It is from her that Tom receives the most formal part of his education into kindness. However, even before the introduction of Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, Tom is very clearly being taught a distinct system of morality. This is made clear especially through the narrator, who casts moral judgments on each of Tom’s actions and serves as a sort of guide for the readers through Tom’s moral pilgrimage. This narrator makes a point of never explicitly stating the moral of the story, since “It is not good for little boys to be told everything, and never to be forced to use their own wits” (Kingsley 104-105; ch. 5). Instead, the narrator instructs the audience to “read this story nine times over, and then think for yourself” in order to discover, not only what the moral of the story is, but how the world works in general (Kingsley 104;ch. 5). In this way, Kingsley leads his readers to become agents in their own moral development.

By urging its audience to think for themselves, The Water Babies becomes useful to those children who, like Tom, have no parent or mentor figure guiding them towards morality. Kingsley makes his morality as much a fact of nature as fish living in the sea. Those who search hard enough are sure to find it. Kingsley unites the moral and scientific functions of Victorian children’s literature to such an extent that he metaphorically places morality as the end of scientific inquiry. Tom learns through cycles of testing and correcting which are remarkably like the scientific pattern of observation – experiment – conclusion, and Kingsley encourages his readers to engage in the same process, with The Water Babies as an introduction.

More specifically, Kingsley advocates for a type of morality which includes reconciling a mechanized England with kindness and respect towards the natural world. Towards this end, he reclaims the image of the sea-spirit “Mother Carey” as an image of goodness. Commonly perceived as a personification of natural forces and as the author of natural disasters, Mother Carey had long been viewed as an ominous character of fables and legends surrounding the sea. Masefield summarizes this idea by saying of Mother Carey that “She’s a hungry old rip ‘n’ a cruel / For sailor-men like we”(Masefield 49). The word “rip” here holds a double meaning, signifying both a “coarse, immoral, or otherwise disreputable woman” (“rip, n.6.”) and “A disturbed state of the sea” (“rip, n.5.”). As such, Mansfield’s description conveys the common image of Mother Carey as both violent and immoral, in both her role as a female spirit and in her role as nature. This gives readers a clue as to the Victorian perception of nature, and especially of the sea. It was a harsh environment, governed by a harsh spirit in Mother Carey. This attitude towards Mother Carey is fairly typical of Kingsley’s time. Although it is unknown exactly where the fable first originated, the name “Mother Carey” is believed to come from the Latin Mater Cara or Italian Madre Cara, both of which translate to “dear mother,” an epithet for the Virgin Mary (“Mother Carey”). It is unknown where the connection between Mother Carey and the sea came from, but we can gain some hints from examining other sea-fables, such as“Mother Carey’s Chickens” – an alternative name for the Stormy Petrel. From many old legends, it is well known that the petrel was “feared as a harbinger of bad weather by the seamen of many nations… the petrel was a fowl of ill omen” (Lockwood 287). The Seaman’s Manual, published in 1790, defines “Mother Carey’s Children” as “a name given by English sailors to birds which they suppose are forerunners of a storm” (Wilson 71). Whatever the origin of these fables, it is clear that anything related to Mother Carey was typically heralded as bad news.

Even in redefining the concept of Mother Carey, Kingsley does not ignore the violent attributes of the sea which the legends attribute to Mother Carey. Kingsley reframes Mother Carey from a personification of mere destruction to a personification of discipline. He expands the traditional interpretation of her character to show storms, death, and natural tragedies as a tool of discipline, rather than destruction for the sake of destruction. In this function, the narrative order of The Water-Babies is important in that it first introduces the disciplinary character of Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby as a type of Mother Carey. Kingsley first trains his readers to understand the concept of unpleasantness as a tool of discipline, before introducing this theme on a larger scale with the idea of a benevolent Mother Carey. Storms and poor weather become simply the necessary by-products of a well-functioning natural world. Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is forced to discipline every transgressor, not because she wants to, but because it is, as Kingsley depicts it, a law of nature. As Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid says to Tom: “I was wound up once and for all, so long ago that I forget all about it” (Kingsley 112; ch. 5). Furthermore, she is subject to the natural law as well in that she “must wait to grow handsome till people do as they would be done by” (Kingsley 115; ch. 5). Clearly in this character, Kingsley sees nature as a force subject to the laws of nature – laws which are in many ways unpleasant. For the more scientifically minded, this has implications into Kingsley’s representation of Mother Carey as a personification of natural selection.

This idea is first taught to Tom in his own life through the character of Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, before expanding to a global scale through Mother Carey. Mother Carey herself exists in a pool that “may lie calm from year’s end to year’s end” (Kingsley 152; ch. 7). This is vastly different from the stormy seas which she is feared for in the popular tales. These are not the work of Mother Carey herself, but simply of Mother Carey fulfilling her role as mistress of the natural world. This is made clear in the following anecdote, in which Tom finds himself caught in a storm:

As Tom and the petrels went north-eastward, it began to blow right hard; for the old gentleman in the gray great-coat, who looks after the big copper boiler, in the gulf of Mexico, had got behindhand with his work; so Mother Carey had sent an electric message to him for more steam; and now the steam was coming, as much in an hour as ought to have come in a week, puffing and roaring and swishing and swirling, till you could not see where the sky ended and the sea began. (148; ch.7)

Kingsley uses the language of an industrial world to describe the necessity of storms and other natural disasters. The “big copper boiler,” “electric message,” and steam “puffing and roaring and swishing” are all reminiscent of a steam engine, and so symbolic of industrial efficiency. As such, the weather is not something to be fought against and cursed, but rather a tool to be harnessed. As the master of these tools, Mother Carey is changed from a creature of cruelty to an efficient task-master.

Kingsley views Mother Carey herself as a calming a peaceful force. Storms and winds are only a result of the necessary natural laws, just as for Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, punishments are a result of natural laws. This comparison is strengthened in one of the most curious scenes in the book, in which Tom comes to the realization that Mother Carey is in fact one and the same as Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, and all the other major mentors he has had in his journey (Kingsley 188; ch. 8). Each of these characters acted towards Tom with goodwill – and this is precisely Kingsley’s message to his readers: Nature, personified, is good. Any pain that comes from nature is necessary for the proper functioning of the world.

Throughout all of this, Kingsley walks a fine line between truth and fiction. He crafts his messages, both moral and scientific, to be palatable to a wide audience. This is key to understanding the purpose of The Water Babies. Kingsley is acutely aware of his audience, and willing to sacrifice knowledge itself for the sake of imparting the process of discovery and inquiry. Of children raised to Kingsley’s ideal, I imagine that they would be strongly independent, observing and adapting to the world around them, seeking and finding their own answers to the world’s greatest questions. I would venture to guess that this might be how Kingsley pictured himself as well. Kingsley was passionately involved in many different spheres, including science, religion,and activism. The doctrines of many of these groups often clashed severely. Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories clashed famously with religious doctrines, dramatically widening the gap between science and religion in the eye of the public. Yet Kingsley found a way to accept Darwinian evolution while also maintaining strict adherence to his religious beliefs. The Water Babies can be read as an instructional manual teaching others to do the same.

Kingsley struggles with an issue which is still very real today. In the modern world, it feels as though the coexistence of science and faith is as inconceivable as an old lady sitting on an iceberg in the middle of an ocean in control of all nature. But Kingsley might argue that this is precisely the point. A scientific understanding of how the world works should not lessen the wonder at the fact that it does work.The Water Babies trains a generation of readers to wonder at the astounding processes of the natural world. By taking his readers completely outside the realm of reality, Kingsley creates a new imaginative space in which his faith and his moral system unite with science, rather than conflicting with science. Once a reader engages in this space can it ever really be left behind? Kingsley actively trains his readers to move the values of the imaginative space into the real world in the form of compassion to others and to the natural world, and an open mind to new ideas. For modern readers of The Water Babies, there is much to be learned from this space of imagination that Kingsley so wonderfully opens up. This space of imagination has potential to create new ways of connecting ideas and people, just as Kingsley found a way to reconcile his faith with science. But such potential can only go so far. As far as he was able to find common ground between faith and science, it also undeniable that he rejected scientific principles where he was unable to find such common ground. It is for this reason that Kingsley passes on his process of using imagination as a tool of empirical discovery, rather than the conclusions which he reached for his own life.

Works Cited

Forsberg, Laura. “Nature’s Invisibilia: The Victorian Microscope and the Miniature Fairy.” Victorian Studies, vol. 57, no. 4, 2015, pp. 638–666. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/victorianstudies.57.4.03. Accessed 18 October 2018.

Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. New York, 2008.

Klaver, J.M.I. Apostle of the Flesh: A Critical Life of Charles Kingsley. Brill, 2005. ProQuest Ebook Central, 0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.wizard.umd.umich.edu/lib/umichigan/detail.action?docID=3004073.

Lightman, Bernard. Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences, U of Chicago P, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.wizard.umd.umich.edu/lib/umichigan/detail.action?docID=471887.

Lockwood, W. B. “Etymology of Petrel, Mother Carey’s Chickens, and Narwhal.” Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, vol.16, 1968, pp. 285-290, https://mgetit.lib.umich.edu/go/3447882. Accessed 4 November 2018.

Masefield, John. “Mother Carey (As Told Me by the Bo’sun).” Salt-Water Ballads. London, 1913. pp. 48-50.

“Mother Carey, n.” OED Online, Oxford UP, July 2018, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/243107. Accessed 3 November 2018.

Ostry, Elaine. “Magical Growth and Moral Lessons; Or, how the Conduct Book Informed Victorian and Edwardian Children’s Fantasy.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 27, no.1, Jan 2003, pp 27-57. ProQuest. https://search.proquest.com/pqrl/docview/1020692916/1A81A5EF938248B7PQ/3?accountid=14578.Accessed 21 October 2018.

“rip, n.5.” OED Online, Oxford UP, December 2018, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/166188. Accessed 16 December 2018.

“rip, n.6.” OED Online, Oxford UP, December 2018, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/166189. Accessed 16 December 2018.

Wilson, Robert. The Seaman’s Manual. London, Truslers, 1790.