“The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.”
Blaise Pascal’s quote sheds illumination on the interconnectedness of all life. He precedes this with, “The least movement is of importance to all nature.”
This truth is seen so clearly in the life of Winston Churchill and his nanny, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Everest.
According to Internet blogs (“Heavenstretch” by Herrick Kimball and “The Woman Who Saved the Man Who Saved the World” by Jeremiah Jacques), Churchill was born into a British upper-class family. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the second son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, and his mother was a socialite born in the United States. Communication between Winston and his parents was distant and rare; in fact, multiple historians have surmised that Lord Randolph must have despised his son, given the regular outpourings of rage vented upon him.
Fortunately, shortly after his birth, Winston was placed in the care of a nanny so that his parents could pursue their social and political aspirations. She fit the traditional stereotype of an English nanny — jolly, pudgy, always ready with a story and excessively concerned with Winston’s safety. Due to his parents’ neglect, Everest became the loving focus of his childhood, his constant source of warmth and nurturance, of strength and security.
She not only saved him from emotional-psychological famine, she was also his first educator for the basic subjects. But she also opened time for creativity and play — encouraging Winston, even joining him, in acting out events from books they were reading. Later, in boarding school, Winston often endured bouts of bullying and prolonged periods of sickness. His parents hardly ever visited him, and it was Everest who supported him during these lonely and fearful times.
To all outward appearances, however, she was just a poor, simple woman who never married or had children of her own. (The “Mrs.” title was an honorific extended to nannies of that era.) But, as a devoted Christian, her faith guided, nurtured and sustained her through a compassionate life of service to others.
Even after she departed from her 18-year employment with the Churchill family, she and Winston carried on a meaningful correspondence during his years of formal, advanced education. She was the one in the beginning who helped him put primary scriptures to memory, who taught him his first prayers, who opened the world to him with a distinctly Christian worldview. She instilled in him a concern for the poor and working classes; the virtue of kindness, even to beasts; the dangers of reckless indebtedness; warnings about keeping bad company; and the importance of maintaining good health.
One of Churchill’s biographers, Stephen Mansfield, maintains that Churchill, despite a possible, brief hiatus from his Christian beliefs in his young adult years, possessed a strong faith that informed his perspective and guided his lifelong purpose. This was breathed into him from childhood by Everest.
In 1895, when she lay dying and in a coma, Winston sat by her side, holding her hand through the night. He wrote that she was his “confidante,” and, at his own death 70 years later, her picture sat on his night table.
In the grand scheme of things, she was a perfect specimen of the small, insignificant “pebble,” one among trillions nestled on the ocean floor. But she played her part wholeheartedly and faithfully, unaware of the crucial leadership this child would ultimately provide the world throughout one of its darkest moments.
This column may include both fiction and nonfiction, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of The SUN. Submissions can be sent to editor@pagosasun.com.
