Miss Tibbett’s Typewriter

By Eve Merriam

Illustration by Rick Schreiter

Copyright 1966

Just last week, I was given the reminder that since we are no longer using typewriters, it is not necessary to double space after a sentence.  Actually, it was more along the lines of “Really, don’t double space after a sentence!”  Having learned keyboarding skills on a typewriter and spending all of college using one, it is a really, really hard habit to break.  (Don’t tell, but I’m doing it right now!)

 

Anyway, the reminder to stop double spacing made me reminisce about the olden days – the days of using all my finger strength to hit the A and P with enough force to make a mark, and the days of hearing the delightful ding at the end of every line.  It also called to mind this little picture book, Miss Tibbett’s Typewriter.

Miss Tibbett lived in a large city with a sweet potato plant, a cat, and a typewriter.  She liked the clickity-clack sound of the keys and the ping of the little bell.  Using all the keys, QWERTYUIOP, ASDFGHJKL, and ZXCVBNM, she could type out ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’.  Unfortunately,  Miss Tibbett began having trouble with her typewriter.  One key always got stuck.  She just kept right on typing, though.  After all, just one key among so many wouldn’t matter.

One day, Miss Tibbett was asked to type out a sign for an auto repair shop.  She happily did so, typing out ‘Come to Golden’s auto repair shop.  We  ix  lats and  enders.  After a few more mistake laden signs, Miss Tibbett realized she better get that old typewriter fixed.  That F key did get fixed, so Miss Tibbett was ready to get to work again.  Her next sign was for a restaurant.  ‘Fish chowder,  oston style.  Fried flounder with  oiled egg sauce.   oston   aked  eans.  Oh no.  More trouble!  

It took several trips to the repair man, but eventually all 26 letters were fixed and once again, the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

I think Miss Tibbett learned a valuable lesson from this experience.  What’s one letter among so many? Very important, actually!  It turns out that each letter is just as important as any other.  Could that idea hold true with people, too?  I think so!  What’s one person among so many?  Very important, actually!  It turns out that each person is just as important as any other!

Tawny Scrawny Lion

 A Little Little Golden Book

Copyright 1952

 

Tawny Scrawny is a lion with an insatiable appetite for the other forest animals.  The frightened animals convince a rabbit to talk to the lion, thinking it will be devoured, thus giving them another day free from Tawny Scrawny’s jaws.  The rabbit has other plans, though.  He convinces the lion to come back home with him to his large family.  Along the way, they gather items for the rabbit family’s carrot stew.  

At the end of the day, Tawny Scrawny’s goal is just within reach.  It was difficult to deal with the rabbit’s dawdling, but with the mantra “five fat sisters and four fat brothers” going through his head, he finds the patience to wait for his supper.  Finally, they arrive at the rabbits’ home and Tawny Scrawny prepares for his dinner of 10 fat rabbits.  

But… those clever rabbits find a way to hold him off long enough to cook that delicious carrot stew.  In fact, they hold him off so long and show so much hospitality that a friendship forms!  Then Tawny Scrawny feasts on so much carrot stew and berries that he couldn’t possibly eat the rabbits.  They were all so full and happy they even enjoyed an after dinner sing along!  

No longer does the lion see those rabbits as dinner.  Now, he sees them as companions and friends.   Tawny Scrawny wouldn’t chase and eat his friends!   All the animals can now relax because the rabbit family’s hospitality has won the lion over.

Is it possible that this strategy may work for us at times?  Do you have an enemy – someone who you feel is about to “devour” you?  Perhaps a generous helping of hospitality and kindness will keep you away from their jaws.  Add in a little homemade carrot stew and after dinner sing-along, and who know?  Maybe a friendship will even form!

Sarah Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin’s

By Frances Hodgson Burnett

Copyright 1903

The edition of Sarah Crewe that I remember from childhood was a thin paperback copy.  I was happy to find this beautiful edition from 1903 to add to my collection.  The handwritten inscription inside reads “Helen E. Tompson Feb 14^th 1906”.  The cover is in great shape for a 110 year old book and the pages are surprisingly thick.  I would turn a page and think I had several pages stuck together.  The story of The Little Princess is quite well known but it was actually preceded by Sarah Crewe by several years.  Sarah Crewe’s story was originally published in serial form in a magazine.  Burnett’s publisher encouraged her to expand the story, and in 1905 The Little Princess was published.  

This short story pictured here, Sarah Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin’s, is the only one I knew as a child.  It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the more popular, longer version.  I loved the book and read it many times.  I recall imagining myself in poor little Sarah’s position.  When she was sent up to the attic to live, I dreamed of having my own quiet all-alone attic room.  It wouldn’t matter if it was bare and cold - I longed for a room like Sarah’s.  What I didn’t imagine (and fortunately, couldn’t imagine) was the hunger that Sarah felt while she sat in her attic room.  I do remember being impressed with Sarah Crewe’s kindness toward a starving and dirty little homeless girl.  Although suffering from hunger herself, Sarah unselfishly gave the other girl most of the rolls purchased with a four-penny piece she found in the street.  

 

Kind little Sarah Crewe, with the help of her active imagination, bravely endured whatever came her way.  She started the story as the rich, favored pupil.  At her father’s death, she became the abused, neglected servant girl.  Then, by the end of the book, Sarah is once again wealthy and cared for.  Her personality, however, is steadfast.  She is still kind, loving, and unselfish.  She still has her imagination and love of stories.   Her outward circumstances did not affect her inward spirit.  That trait is what I find most honorable.  To remain honest and giving and to keep a positive attitude despite one’s circumstances in life is difficult – but what I strive for nonetheless.  

Thank you for the beautiful book quilt, Amy!

Chip Chip

A Little Golden Book (#28)

By Norman Wright

Pictures by Nino Carbe
Copyright 1947

Chip Chip the Chipmunk lives in the hollow of a tree with his father and his two brothers, Chap Chap and Chop Chop.  The story opens on a beautiful sunny day, with Chip Chip complaining about the need to sit in the dark school room, learning his one times one and two times two.  The temptation is too much for him, and while Mr. Chipmunk is out of the room, Chip Chip slips away to play outside.  Oh no!  There is a hunter in the woods that day and Chip Chip is very afraid.  Although he spends a whole night cold and frightened, when morning comes he finds a way to outsmart the hunter and chase him out of the woods.  Now all the animals are safe.  Mr. Chipmunk finds his wayward son and after hearing his story, admits pride in little Chip Chip’s bravery. 

This story is attempting to give children the lesson to always pay attention in school because you never know when you’ll need the lessons learned there.  The world is big and scary and school will prepare you to handle it.  “Now that he had seen the dangers of the forest, he wanted to know all he could learn about taking care of himself.  He was always the first one there when it was time for school – and he wrote his lists very neatly, and did his one times on and his two times two, and even his three times three. “

All I could think of while reading this book, though, is how wrong a school system is that forces children to sit at their desks all day long, never getting out into the real world to have practical lessons.  It was Chip Chip, who ventured out into the woods all by himself on that beautiful day, who saved the animals from the hunter.   So shouldn’t the lesson from this story be for Mr. Chipmunk?   Get out of that hole in the tree and show your children how to survive in the real world!