Something Old

Hail Holy Queen

A book of prayer and counsel for Catholic girls and women

Copyright 1928

The inscription inside this prayer book reads “To Mother from Ken - September 8, 1950”.  Originally a gift from my uncle to his mother, this book was my “something old” 25 years ago this month.  Thus, the nice white eyelet cover.  Topped with a few pink roses, this is what I held in my hands while walking down the aisle on my way to starting a new family. 

This book carries significant meaning for me.

I think of people who shared that day with us who are no longer living who unselfishly gave so much of themselves.

I think of the family I now have, a husband and two now grown daughters, that started on that day twenty-five years ago.    

I remember the words I wrote for our wedding program that still hold perfectly true today:

 

Mike and Adrian would like to thank you, their families and friends, for sharing this day with them.  They want you to understand how important each of you is to them but find it difficult to express.   It is through the love and joy that you have so freely given to them that they, in turn, can give love and joy to each other.  While all individuals have unique talents and gifts, the one gift Adrian and Mike see in each of you is love.  This is not a love based on feelings only, but a love based on actions.  You have taught them from the moments of their births until the present that love is a way of living every day, not just a feeling held in their hearts.  They hope and pray that they can live by the examples shown to them by their parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, and friends.

The Home Care of the Infant and Child

By Frederick F. Tisdall, M.D.

Copyright 1942

I can see that this comprehensive book would have been invaluable to a new parent.  It covers everything imaginable including signs of pregnancy, diapering, healthy weight and nutrition for babies, and dealing with common ailments and diseases.  

Being far from this stage in my life, I concentrated instead on the chapter entitled Toys and the Play Life of the Child, assuming it would cover the importance of reading to children.

Well, it did, but not in a way that I agree with!

I quote, “At the age of 4 or 5 children should be given books and coloured pictures of the ordinary things that he sees about him, animals, fruits, flowers, beds, trains, autos, and so on.”

Not until the age of 4 or 5?  Really?  

Well, I suppose when this was written board books had not yet been invented.  Still, even a 2 year old can learn to listen to books without tearing the pages.  

I realize also in 1942 many families did not have the money to purchase books for their children and that the quiet atmosphere of hometown libraries at the time discouraged parents from bringing their toddlers.

I am grateful for the changes that have occurred over the years in the attitudes of reading to very young children, the quality of writing for children, and in the library’s stance on exuberance.  I see caregivers pouring into the library with their noisy, excited little ones for storytime and I’m pleased that these children are exposed at such a young age to the treasures that can be found in books.  Although I have to say that sometimes I’m also glad to see them go straight upstairs to the children’s department!

I say no age is too young to begin reading!

Madeline

By Ludwig Bemelmans

Original copyright 1939

Madeline turns 75 years old this year, yet she remains the spunky little girl many have learned to love through her starring role in picture books.  

Bemelmans crafted a short, timeless story of twelve little girls in a Paris boarding school and their loving teacher, Miss Clavel.  Always fearless and curious, Madeline, the smallest, 

was not afraid of mice – she loved winter, snow, and ice. To the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said, ‘Pooh-pooh.’

One night, poor Madeline awakens the school with cries of pain.  She is rushed to the hospital to have her appendix out.  With Madeline recovering in the hospital, Miss Clavel decides to take the rest of the classmates to visit her.  At first, the other girls are timid about their visit, yet they soon see the toys and candy Madeline has received and are jealous of the scar on her stomach.  

When, in the middle of the night, Miss Clavel hears the cries of eleven little girls, all wanting to have their appendixes out, she comforts them with her now famous words,       

      

’Good night, little girls!  Thank the Lord you are well!  And now go to sleep’, said  

 Miss Clavel.

Madeline’s popularity is due in part to her bravery and strength of spirit, the strongest in the class even though she is smallest in stature.  What child wouldn’t want some of that dauntlessness?  To read about a little girl facing a scary hospital stay all alone inspires the reader to face scary situations head-on.  

I’m reminded of stories of my Dad.  At the time this book was written, he was the smallest in his class.  Yet his yearbook pictures attest to his spunk.  He tried out for the football team, performed front and center on the stage, and energetically led the crowd in cheers.  

Lesson learned from Madeline and my Dad:  Don’t be intimidated by anyone or anything that you perceive to be bigger than you.

Petunia

By Roger Duvoisin

Copyright 1950

While walking through the meadow one day, silly goose Petunia comes across something she has never seen before – a book.  She remembers hearing someone say, “He who owns Books and loves them is wise”.  Petunia makes the assumption that since she has a book to carry around, she also has the accompanying wisdom.  Proud Petunia now struts through the barnyard, dispensing advice to all the other animals.   

When Ida the hen comes to her for help in counting her chicks to make sure all nine are there, Petunia counts 3 sets of 3 chicks, and says that 3 x 3 is six, and six is much more than nine.  Poor Ida worries because she doesn’t know how she can take care of so many chicks.  

More trouble ensues as Petunia dispenses her “wisdom” throughout the barnyard.

It takes a disastrous encounter with a box of firecrackers that is mistakenly read as “candies” to finally put Petunia in her place.  Petunia’s pride and wisdom exploded with the firecrackers and she comes to the realization that “It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing.  I must put it in my mind and heart.  And to do that I must learn to read.”

The importance of literacy is of course the key lesson here.

I take another important lesson from Petunia’s story.  Just because someone has the book – or the degree – or the status – that makes them seem wise, don’t blindly take their advice.  We can’t be experts on everything, so we need to sometimes lean on the wisdom of others.  We should, however, learn to be discerning and not assume that wisdom automatically comes with status.