Merry Christmas

Das Neugeborene By Georges de La Tour (source)

Things I make...

A foray into Irish crochet. The border is traditional, the center is my own design. I thought that Irish crochet needed more actual interlacing, and Borromean rings followed naturally.
It’s about 7” across.

Things I Make

Filet Crochet runner.
I like the way this one came out.

I do not forget....

The memories grow stronger with every passing year.

Things I like

When I was very small this guy used to play for tips at our local farmers market.....I remember Mom bought a whole set of his CDs, even though we didn't have a CD player back then. I still listen to them.

He has a website now, and I hope he's stinking rich.

Because Nothing says "Christmas" like......

I try not to blog stuff here that contributes to the ugliness in the world. (maybe I fail, but the goal is still truth, beauty &goodness all the way.)

Every now and then, though, I find something I really need to share.


I work in a store that sells Christmas ornaments. I unwrap and price them starting in mid-July and hang them up for the world to see around the end of August. I kind of enjoy this, since I enjoy Christmas and cute stuff and I don't think that decorating a tree makes you a bad Christian somehow.

I have developed a high tolerance for the kitschy, the campy and the Just Plain Weird - though I am still less than fond of glitter.

But then I unwrapped The Monstrosity -  a nameless abomination that took the form of a high-heel platform shoe-thingy in colors such that it would embarrass even the most hardened trailer park elf /Elvis impersonator.
 

In short, It's ugly, it's fragile, and it does not appear to bear any relationship to any secular or religious holiday.

Scroll down if you dare.

"that which is seen cannot be unseen."

Hedwig

****

My first memories are of the high hills.

Soaring eagles below. The grass and trees on the farther hills swaying in waves wilder than the seas I have since seen.

I have another memory, of Smoke and screams – but it is very faint.

Edwin found me, a baby of about three months old, on the threshold of his cave, a line of tiger’s footprints leading away.

He raised me as his own, teaching me, when I was old enough, the ways of healing and of the mysterious innate goodness to be found in the pure elements and (in greater or less degree) in our fellow creatures. “Signs of the eternally true” Edwin called this. “Dim sparks of the one bright thing.” “As dewdrops are to the river, so are these things we sense. Someday you shall seek the River itself.”

We lived quite peacefully in the hills, those high hills. There where a few small villages, many animals, occasional raiders and goblins. Edwin trained me in the use of arms, that I might be able to withstand evil and hunt for food. We did not see much of any fellow Druid, as many of them did not see wisdom in Edwin’s ways. They saw plants as a force to manipulated, not respected, and animals as slaves (or masters), not nourishment. They manipulated the weak and feared the strong.They had no knowledge of the river.

When I was about fifteen years old I found outside our door a tiger’s cub. Whisper and I have been inseparable since. Edwin used to tease that we where littermates, pointing to the common tint of our hair and eyes. It is true we understand each other.

For six years we three were happy together. Then Edwin died, as all men must. I buried him according to the custom of our people, building his mound under our favorite tree.

After this, my heart became restless, and I determined to go in search of that River of truth that  alone can heal all hurts and fill all emptiness.

****

And so her story begins:

How all these met with each other (and many adventures) must wait for another day:

I'd like you to meet someone...

Father Emil Kapaun. 

His MOH citation is here

Part one of an eight part series of articles about him is here. Read the whole thing, you owe it to yourself.

...and companions, Martyrs

Most professions have their own patron saint or several. Doctors, lawyers, greengrocers, waiters, bomb technicians, swordsmiths, accountants – you name it. Usually a saint is chosen as a patron by a group because they either followed the profession in question while they where alive, or because they exemplified some virtue that is vital to the state in life of those who practice it.

So who is the Patron Saint of  retail/customer service workers?

Apparently, we haven’t one.

We are an extensive group, but largely nameless – even our very best efforts will never catapult us to fame - unknown but to our families and God.

The problem seems to be that retail sales as it is practiced today is a relatively modern invention. I have not been able to find a bio of a saint who followed the profession for any length of time. (St. Frances of Assisi is great, but he isn’t what I had in mind because he quit his father’s shop rather dramatically.)

So who would be fitting for retail workers everywhere? Our profession is extremely diverse and includes grocery store cashiers and Nordstrom’s sales associates – requisite skills in all environments include smiling in the face of disaster and putting up with stupid people while keeping a sense of humor. The ability to answer the same question over and over without losing your temper, and not punching stupid people. Standing on your feet all day and smiling, and not punching stupid people. Also, not punching stupid people.

So I propose this:

“...and companions, Martyrs.”

You see, there is a vast army in heaven of people, normal sorts of people, who died rather than give up their faith. In most countries, when a persecution arose the tyrant du jour would round up the missionaries and any of their converts they could find and execute them. Frequently we know the name of the missionary but not the names of all the converts, so they are listed as: St Charles Lwanga and companions, Martyrs. Or: St Andrew Kim and companions, martyrs.

Large group of diverse people who understand suffering and exemplify steadfastness and perseverance? check.

...and companions, martyrs, pray for us!

Along the Brook - 1931

 

You can view the copyright announcement here.  It's right next to The Greedy Goat!

"With drawings of fifty common plants and creatures, by Margery N Wilson"... who is, alas, lost to the internet.

The book was actually called Along the Brook, what you will find there and how to name it, and it has survived better than "Along the Shore." At least, it's on Amazon and Along the Shore is not.

According to this source, his full name was Raymond Tifft Fuller, he was born In 1889 and died in 1960. He wrote several books for young naturalists (you can read a review of one of the later ones here.)

 He also wrote a book about the passion play in Oberammergau (written in 1934, which was its 300th anniversary and the year the Nazis tried to take it over and turn it into some kind of Jew-hating "peasant festival" )You can read the book here. I skimmed parts of it and gathered that the beer in Munich is really, really, good and the play is NOT COMMERCIAL AT ALL,  M'KAY! Mr. Fuller had attended the 1930 version, but wrote this book before the 1934 play took place. The book appears to be more about urging people to visit Germany than it is about the play itself, specifically it's about how nice these German tourist bureau people are to give us such a good exchange rate.

Germany in 1934 was not poised to descend into the depths of evil. It had already descended. Dachau concentration camp had been open since 1933. Dachau is only about 65 miles from Oberammergau. The books where already burning. The Nazi party was the only legal party. Hitler was dictator of Germany. The Gestapo were open for business. Jews were no longer second class citizens, they were not citizens at all. They were boycotted, forbidden to own land or arms or run newspapers. They were steadily losing any rights they still possessed and it was getting worse. This was already in effect.

So, was Mr. Fuller evil? I doubt he was conscious enough for that. I think he had one of these:

...But that dosn't make me feel any better.

Pinafores and Pantalets - 1931

I couldn't find out anything definite about the authors of this book. They are both credited with writing other things, so I presume they existed.
The review in Parents' makes it sound like the story took place in colonial times; but from this review of Pinafores and Pantalets it appears that 1864 was the year in which "children's lives where considerably simpler than they are now."

Considerably simpler, because we where only having a civil war at the time.

In 1931 the Civil War had ended 66 years previously. Because so many had enlisted so young, there where many civil war veterans still living in the 1930s. (Albert Woolson was the last surviving civil war veteran, he passed away in 1956.)

Gay Madelon - 1931

It must have existed because you can get it on amazon, they even have a picture of the cover:

I can't find much about Ethel Calvert Phillips, except that she was quite prolific and wrote children's books from the nineteen-teens through the 40s.
There is slightly more information on Ilsa Martha Bischoff (1901-1990); This Source says:

"Ilse Martha Bischoff was born on November 21, 1901 in New York City, to Adele Maria Timme Bischoff and Ernst Bischoff, founder of the Ernst Bischoff (pharmaceuticals) Company of Ivoryton, Connecticut.
From 1928 to 1946, Bischoff illustrated 12 books and wrote two novels about George Washington's Portraitist, Gilbert Stuart: Painter's Coach in 1943, and Proud Heritage in 1949. Her autobiography, Drive Slowly: Six Dogs, was published in 1953. She was also an avid collector of Meissen porcelain."

Boochy's Wings

Yes, the reactions to this book (and to Ms. Weaver's other two books Frawg and Pappy King)are exactly what you would expect, ranging from This to This.

But what I want to know is, what does Alice Dalgliesh have against chickens?

Annie Vaughn Weaver is better known as Ann Weaver Norton, the name she used during her career as a sculptor.(She did blocky quasi-Egyptian stuff like This.) Apparently she only wrote three books, to earn money for art school. Her estate is now a "sculpture garden" and its website does not mention Ms. Weaver's books at all.

The Goat who Wouldn't be Good - 1931

Not to be confused with the Greedy Goat.

All the information I can find about Zhenya Gay (1906-1978) is Here. The Goat Who Wouldn't be Good is available used from amazon, so it must have existed at some point.

The Twin Lambs - 1931

Marjorie Flack (1897-1958) was the author of The Story About Ping! We met the illustrator a couple of days ago.

Helen Fuller Orton (1872-1955) was a prolific writer and mostly wrote books whose titles started "Mystery of the__" The Little Lost Pigs was another of her books, published in 1925. The Twin Lambs is available used, but I could not find a cover picture.
Stokes publishing had some prime ad space down the side of the page:

  

I've never seen any pigs riding elevated trains; but I have heard of  This Monorail.

Nip & Tuck, the Naughty Dauchshunds - 1931

An "unimportant" German picture book, as opposed to that "Worthwhile" German book we saw last week! It is mentioned but unavailable on both amazon and googlebooks.

I think that Willy Planck (1870-1956?) was primarily an illustrator, you can see a selection of his work at allposters.com ( my personal favorite is here) and you will note that his name never appears alone on amazon.
Christine Turner Curtis seems to have written mostly verse.

I learned a new phrase today:
"Der Artikel „Willy planck“ existiert nicht in diesem Wiki."

North America - 1931

Googlebooks says that it was 383 pages. 

Lucy Sprague Mitchell (1878-1967) was the founder of the "Bureau of Educational Experiments"** a "progressive" establishment which is now the Bank Street College of Education and the Bank Street School for Children. She was the first Dean of Women at U.C. Berkeley, wrote scads of books (including a Little Golden Book) and does not have her own wiki page. She is still much beloved by the mainstream educational community, if a google search of her name is any indication.

She was married to Wesley C. Mitchell, an economist. Both of them where heavily influenced by John Dewy,who doesn't strike me as someone I would want to educate my child.

Let's end with a happy thought:
Where have we heard the name Kurt Wiese before? Why, he illustrated The Story About Ping!
Good stuff.

**This name creeps me out.

Sue Sew and Sew - 1931

I would love to be able to find this book. I've been sewing dolly clothes for most of my life!

Wanda Gàg(1893-1946) is most famous for Millions of Cats, but my favorite of her books is The Funny Thing. Asta, Dehli and Flavia where three of her six younger siblings. As far as I can tell, this is the only book they wrote.

This article is about some people who teach a sewing class based on this book to children at the house where the Gàgs lived. There is a small picture of the cover at the link, you can click on it to make it bigger. Based on the picture, I don't think that Sue was a "Sunbonnet Sue."

I would like to think that Sue was one of the dolls that the Aminal did not eat, thanks to Bobo and his inspired invention of Jum-Jills.

Was the "effort to be light and frolicsome" "overdone"? I can't say. The only copy I found for sale was $150 plus shipping.

Young Germany - 1931

Oh. My.

 

You can see the whole book at archive.com, but don't if you're feeling queasy.

A sample from page 23:

"About thirty years ago a very important thing happened in conservative, disciplined Germany. Youth revolted against the materialistic world created by their elders. They said " we will make our own lives, we will develop our own ideas. We refuse to be ruled by the old."

Which, of course, led to This  and This.

More information about German Youth movements of the 1930s can be found Here.

Bear in mind that this was written in October of 1931. Japan had already invaded Manchuria. In Germany the Nazi party was the second largest in the country.Mein Kampf was a best seller. It was down hill all the way to the ovens.

Who was Anne Merriman Peck? I couldn't find any definite information. I think she was either evil or criminally naive. If you do look at the book, take the time to wiki any names. Most are not people I would give a dog I liked, let alone want them near my children. For instance Isadora Duncan and Klaus Mehnert are both mentioned in a positive manner.

To wash your eyes out, I recommend this.
 

The Iron Horse -1931

Ten years later, according to This article  Adele Gutman Nathan(1889-1986) would be chief script writer for the U.S. Department of education. The article says:

""Her greatest successes came as a writer and producer of historical pageants. She staged commemorative events for cities, corporations, and groups, including the centenaries of the B&O Railroad (1927) and of International Harvester (1929), the 1933 and 1939 World’s Fairs, the cities of Rochester, New York (1934), and Winston-Salem, North Carolina (1949), the American Jewish Tercentenary in Trenton (1955), and the Hundredth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1963). In 1974, she wrote How to Plan and Conduct a Bicentennial Celebration for the American Bicentennial."

She wrote 12 books that I know about, three of which involved trains. She also stared in what looks like a superlatively creepy movie.

Margaret S. Ernst seems to be lost to the internet; maybe someday her time will come.

Regarding boys who have a "train interest" - I imagine a list like this:

Diseases of Childhood:

• Chickenpox
• Mumps
• Measles
• "Train Interest" (incurable)

Diggers and Builders - 1931

Henry Bolles Lent wrote non-fiction books for boys from the 30s through the 70s.
 Many of them are available on amazon and have titles like Jet Pilot Overseas, I Work on a Newspaper and Man Alive in Outer Space; our Space Surgeons' Greatest Challenge.

I can't find Diggers and Builders in the public domain, but you can read a .pdf of Wide Road Ahead! Building an Automobile Here.

It is interesting to note that Sam the cement mixer is a person, unlike Dizzy the cement mixer who is an anthropomorphic machine.

"Good pictures"....who was the illustrator?

Skipping Along Alone - 1931

The poem quoted seems to be Winifred Welles' most famous.

In its entirety it reads:

      "I'd like a different dog
      For every kind of weather -
      A narrow greyhound for a fog,
      A wolfhound strange and white,
      With a tail like a silver feather
      To run with in the night,
      When snow is still, and winter stars are bright.
      In the fall I'd like to see
      In answer to my whistle,
      A golden spaniel look at me.
      But the best of all for rain
      A terrier, hairy as a thistle,
      To trot with fine disdain   
      Beside me down the soaked, sweet smelling lane."

There isn't much information available about Ms. Welles (other than that she wrote several books of poetry) but Marguerite Davis has quite a fan following. She has her own tumblr tag.

As far as I can tell, the illustrations for Skipping Along Alone where in black and white and looked pretty good. (see  examples Here and Here and Here.)

I like the pictures better than the poems....Perhaps by "delicate" she meant "ungrammatical"?

What do you think?

The Hole in the Wall - 1931

Mr. René D'Harnoncourt (1901-1968) is much more famous for being the curator of the Museum of Modern Art than he is for illustrating children's books. He was very interested in Mexican and South American artwork.

Hole in the Wall is available from amazon...if you have $200.

The Painted Pig is much more readily available - it was written by Annie Morrow Lindbergh's mother.
You can read a review of it Here.

Ms Dalgliesh's sense of what is "complicated" I do not trust. (Remember Benny ans His Penny?)

The cover of The Painted Pig:

Source

Peter's Voyage - 1931

(credit)
Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) also wrote Pele's New Suit, a favorite story of mine. She wrote in Swedish and her stories have been translated by many different people; her pictures need no translation. Many of her stories are still in print; however, Peter's Voyage is not among them.
Elsa had a brother and four sisters, she was the mother of six boys.

Benny and His Penny - 1931

An example of  the "amusing but complicated" style referred to:

 Complicated is not the word that springs to mind.

Lois Lenski (1893-1974) was the fourth of five children and she wrote and/or illistrated about a bazillion books, for many different age levels.
Benny and His Penny is a fairly early work. Later her illustrations would look more like this,  realistic pencil drawings with lots of shading. They remind me of Kate Seredy's drawings but with different subject matter.
I have read two of Lois Lenski's other books (Strawberry Girl and Cotton in my sack) and enjoyed them. She also did the illustrations for the first four Betsy-Tacy books, which I also enjoyed.
Lois' husband was an artist as well, and painted murals like this. They stayed married from 1921 until his death in 1960.

I have not been able to find Benny and His Penny, so I cannot comment on his lack of sense; however I do not think that an un-sensible character always prevents enjoyment of a book. What do you think?

The Greedy Goat - 1931

The Greedy Goat is now available (used) cheap on Amazon; however there is no review or cover image available.

Emma Lilian Brock (1886-1974) was a prolific author and illustrator of children’s books. This source says she did 36 of them, the first of which was called The runaway Sardine. Many are available from amazon, but none are available from our local library system.

Knopf was a publisher.

A certain preoccupation with things “Tyrolean” on the part of Ms. Dalgliesh may become a theme.
Stay tuned.

Johnny Penguin -1931

Parents’ Magazine had a column of reviews of children’s books.
 Now (82 years after these reviews appeared) I am trying to find all the books mentioned, learn about their authors, and comment on all things as the fancy takes me. I originally started this series on my old Posterous blog in October of 2011.

 Most of the books where reviewed by Alice Dalgliesh, who was identified as “Instructor in Story Telling for Children, Teacher’s College, Columbia University.” According to Wikipedia, Alice Dalgliesh wrote children’s books herself, notably this one.(which I have not read.) She was also Robert Heinlein’s editor for many years.

What does she have to say about Johnny?

Well, I think we have very different views on books. You see, I found Johnny quite charming.
She-and-the-mouse-in-her-pocket wondered at the text? But it is so plainly illustrated:

Dorothy and Marguerite Bryan seem to have been quite prolific. I have only seen two of their books (Johnny Penguin and “Michael who Missed his Train”) and both of them had the same formula: an incident, a chase with accompanying map, and a happy ending. Good stuff.

 

 Everything is better with a Penguin.

Pink Rose

Embigginable