Books

We're book people. I love how words fit together. How a scene can be described. How emotions can be captured. How a character can be developed and a story consume a reader. We love novels, biographies, gardening books, theology books, English history books, children's books. There's a great used bookstore in the city, Argosy, which we love to poke around in when we're down visiting.

We've always wanted to turn our family room into a library with built in bookshelves and a library table. I don't have enough shelves to house all our precious friends.

When I was in second grade our teacher gave us an assignment to write a letter to our favorite author. And mine was Thornton Burgess. He was a naturalist and conservationist. I did not know that then, only that his stories about the outdoors and the creatures that inhabited Smiling Pool and the Old Briar -patch came alive to me. I loved his stories.

He wrote me back. And I still have his letter, bless my mom for keeping it for me. I have several of his books from my childhood and it was really fun to visit his birthplace this summer in Sandwich, Cape Cod. There is a small museum there and a nice lady who said she would look for the letter I had written him so many years ago.

He was brought up by his mother after his dad died the year of his birth, 1874. As a youth he worked all year long to earn money to help his mom. One of his employers lived near Discovery Hill Road, a wildlife habitat of woodland and wetlands and a pond. Many of his stories involved these places. He married and lived in Boston and was a reporter for one of the Boston papers. They had a son, but his wife died and the son went to live with relatives. Trying to show his son a bit of his heritage he wrote him bedtime stories about his "growing up" years in the rural Sandwich. They became so popular with some of his friends that they were published in local newspapers, gradually being collected into book form. His good friend Harrison Cady illustrated his original stories. By the time of his death in 1965 he had written over 15,000 stories and 170 books.

I had put one out in the back "garden room" last summer. Rob picked up LongLegs the Heron and read the book. "I know why you love those books", he said. "They're all about lessons." And he was right I guess. I had never made the connection. But woven in amongst all the wonderful meadow friends are lessons about bravery, truth, honesty, humility, loyalty and love.

Thornton has little "sayings" under each chapter head. Such as:

A friend stands through thick and thin,
And holds desertion as a sin
Longlegs

Young Heron had become caught in a trap in Smiling Pool. Peter Rabbit had become aware of his situation and the perils that were lurking among the reeds. Billy Mink, Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote. At first he thought there was nothing that he could do. Those were all his enemies too. He wished he could do something but as the evening approached he thought he would just go back to his dear old Briar-patch and run over in the morning to see what happened at night. But his conscience gets the better of him and he hids himself near the young trapped heron. He gets ready to leave in the morning and is set to say goodbye when he catches a glimpse of something red moving in the swamp. He knows it is Reddy fox. His first thought is that Reddy is hunting for him. But realizes that he is after young Heron, and Reddy doesn't even know that he is there.

If he stays hidden in the reeds, Reddy would not find him. He would find the helpless Heron caught in the trap. Why should he, Peter, risk his life for someone who probably would not thank him?

"Shame," said someting inside Peter. "Shame on you." Peter slipped swiftly away under the ferns and headed so as to cross right in front of Reddy Fox. And as he ran, it came to him that he was going to help, after all, and he was glad."

Wonderful lessons told with engaging animal characters, around a charming wood, cool dark glade and Smiling pool. And the Merry Little Breezes of Mother West Wind dancing all around each chapter, singing little songs and whispering soft encourgements to all who will listen.