Monday, August 17, 2009

A Timeless Tale

Four hungry, orphaned children, alone in the night running from a grandfather they never met; The Boxcar Children is an amazing book written in the early 1940's. This chapter book for young readers engages their minds in imagination, adventures and survival. 13 chapters weave the ups and downs, the fears and hopes, struggles and solutions that will bring promise and happiness to the hearts of all who enter in... Being an avid early reader and young writer, I don't know how I missed this one growing up and how this story failed from my radar as I read book after countless book to my son at a very early age...

This summer I picked up a copy (thanks to an NPR recommendation) from the library that was a 1950 edition: old, worn and loved and gently handled. The purpose, I suppose, is to pass along the tale to you so that any fresh pair of eyes can journey into the lives of these brave kids who make a home out of a boxcar.

Below is the biography of the author of this heartwarming tale. Read on.

Gertrude Chandler Warner was born in Putnam, Connecticut, on April 16, 1890, to Edgar and Jane Warner. Her family included a sister, Frances, and a brother, John. From the age of five, she dreamed of becoming an author. She wrote stories for her Grandfather Carpenter, and each Christmas she gave him one of these stories as a gift. Today, Ms. Warner is best remembered as the author of The Boxcar Children Mysteries.

As a child, Gertrude enjoyed many of the things that girls enjoy today. She loved furnishing a dollhouse with handmade furniture and she liked to read. Her favorite book was Alice in Wonderland. Often on Sundays after church, Gertrude enjoyed trips to visit her grandparents' farm. Along the way, she and Frances would stop to pick the wildflowers they both loved. Gertrude's favorite flower was the violet.

Her family was a very musical one. They were able to have a family orchestra, and Gertrude enjoyed playing the cello. Her father had brought her one from New York—a cello, a bow, a case and an instruction book. Altogether, he paid $14.00. Later, as an adult, she began playing the pipe organ and sometimes substituted for the church organist.

Due to ill health, Ms. Warner never finished high school. She left in the middle of her second year and studied with a tutor. Then, in 1918, when teachers were called to serve in World War I, the school board asked her to teach first grade. She had forty children in the morning and forty more in the afternoon. Ms. Warner wrote, "I was asked or begged to take this job because I taught Sunday School. But believe me, day school is nothing like Sunday School, and I sure learned by doing—I taught in that same room for 32 years, retiring at 60 to have more time to write." Eventually, Ms. Warner attended Yale, where she took several teacher training courses.

Once when she was sick and had to stay home from teaching, she thought up the story about the Boxcar Children. It was inspired by her childhood dreams. As a child, she had spent hours watching the trains go by near her family's home. Sometimes she could look through the window of a caboose and see a small stove, a little table, cracked cups with no saucers, and a tin coffee pot boiling away on the stove. The sight had fascinated her and made her dream about how much fun it would be to live and keep house in a boxcar or caboose. She read the story to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand. Some of her pupils spoke other languages at home and were just learning English. The Boxcar Children gave them a fun story that was easy to read.

Ms. Warner once wrote for her fans, "Perhaps you know that the original Boxcar Children… raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it! Most of my own childhood exploits, such as living in a freight car, received very little cooperation from my parents."

Though the story of The Boxcar Children went through some changes after it was first written, the version that we are familiar with today was originally published in 1942 by Scott Foresman. Today, Albert Whitman & Company publishes this first classic story as well as the next eighteen Alden children's adventures that were written by Ms. Warner.

Gertrude Chandler Warner died in 1979 at the age of 89 after a full life as a teacher, author, and volunteer for the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations. After her death, Albert Whitman & Company continued to receive mail from children across the country asking for more adventures about Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny Alden. In 1991, Albert Whitman added to The Boxcar Children Mysteries so that today's children can enjoy many more adventures about this independent and caring group of children.

Quite Quentin

If you search the name Dennis Pratt, no reference to a man, born in London in 1908 can be found. Most assuredly his parents would learn all too early that keeping this name for a lifetime would never change the makings of Quentin Crisp. Early on, QC knew he was a different sorta guy and assured his personal life voyeurs that from birth he was on a path of mild to maximum ridicule as his flighty hand movements and sweet little voice smacked of a queerness.

His boldness in dress and personality secured his place in the world to not fit in and would never be squelched. And oftentimes QC found himself suffocated by his burning desires to express himself. Hats, feathers, dresses, brilliant night coats and heavy makeup, QC did not shy away from the spotlight nor could he avoid it. And, when the time came for Quentin to leave home, he did so, "with a red handkerchief full of cosmetics tied to a birch rod over" his shoulders.

Films, TV, recordings, books, and art, Quentin may be most remembered by his writings, The Naked Servant, where he shares his personal stories including how he made a living as a still life model, in the nude for some 25 years until his later years where body wear and tear forced him to sit for face work. I stumbled upon Crisp recently as I was pouring over some chilling Sting music. In the middle 1980's Sting was said to have interviewed Quentin who was the inspiration for the song, Englishman in New York. If you watch the video, you will see Quentin Crisp appear several times in the course of this chilling black and white. View Here
QC lived a flamboyant life until his death in 1999 at 91 years of age.

100 Posts in the Clouds

This marks my 100th post to the cmashing blog. In its infancy, which dates back to January 2004, blogging was cutting edge. Historically speaking, while I knew I would journal, research, and record my musings in diaries that would come and go; I had little belief that this form of communication would continue for another five years. Surely I would maintain my observations in little notebooks and even blast my opinions in op-ed pieces whenever possible; but here I am reflecting on this journey in the clouds. And so, to record this milestone, it is appropriate to share the words of the gentle, humble and extraordinary man, Father Arrupe.

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

Father Pedro Arrupe

Follow Father Arrupe here.