Two books and a Clipboard

I was thinking that I have been "puppydogging" all of you to death lately, so today will be a "no puppy" picture day.
Yesterday I had some errands to do in town. I have been looking for an old Johnson Bros. bread&butter plate for a friend ,so I stopped by the thrift stores in town to see if I could get lucky and find one before it got to an antique store and the price quadrupled. No luck with the plate but I did find a few cool things.
The Elbe clipboard is in perfect condition. I may just keep it for it's intended purpose or I may "alter" it. The Masonite board is dark and very beautiful, no chips or marks, and the clip works great. I don't know why but I LOVE CLIPBOARDS. Call me crazy. They are so useful and some old ones are really beautiful. This one was $1.50.

This book was in it's third printing in 1946; the year they made the movie with Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones. It's a Forum Book Motion Picture Adition( Yes, that's how they spelled "addition".). I can't wait to read it and compare it to the movie ,to see if they did right by Niven Busch's book. The book doesn't open with the same words as the movie.... Do you remember?...
"Deep among the lonely sun-baked hills of Texas, the great and weather beaten stone still stands. The Comanches call it 'Squaw's Head Rock.' Time cannot change its impassive face nor dim the legend of the wild young lovers who found heaven, and hell, in the shadows of the rock. For when the sun is low and the cold wind blows across the desert, there are those who still speak of Pearl Chavez, the half-breed girl from down along the border, and of the laughing outlaw with whom she had kept a final rendezvous, never to be seen again. And this is what the legend says:'A flower, known nowhere else, grows from out of the desperate crags where Pearl vanished...Pearl, who was herself a wild flower, sprung from the hard clay, quick to blossom...and early to die."
Oh it's all so romantic and tragic. I love stories like this.

The other book is by one of my favorite poets. This book is older than me (being published in 1941) and in better shape. It's not antique but it's definitely VINTAGE. Ogden Nash was a very cleaver and funny poet who told folks things that they didn't want to hear in a way that made them listen and laugh. He made up words so they would rhyme and he wrote silly two line poems that , I thought, were hysterical.
"God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why."
This was a man who said "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker." I would like to have met Mr. Nash. I have to imagine that he was as funny, in person, as he was with his verse. If you need a good laugh, buy yourself one of his books of poetry. It will make your day.
Both of these books cost me $2.00. I'll keep looking for the plate but I thought this was an inexpensive and successful trip to the thrift store. What do you think?

When I was Very Young....

I love old, children's books. They hold more than stories and poems. They are the keepers of memories and all the ghosts that held them. They are the long ago keepsakes of childhood..., when you were tucked into bed, with your favorite doll or stuffed animal and someone started to read from them about a magic world, so different and wonderful that you found yourself wishing you were there. The characters were alive and you thought you knew them personally..., that they were peeking at you from inside your toy chest, hiding in the closet or waiting under the bed to dance around you after you went to sleep.
I had a huge imagination when I was very young. I was an only child for seven years and my imaginary world had no limits. I made up stories and placed myself into every book that was read to me. As I got older and started reading on my own, these books became companions that were always there and that I could count on.They were some of my best friends.

This little book was one I remember well. When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne was one of my favorites and probably the reason that I love poetry so much now. This book is not with my childhood books. Maybe it got lost or worn out..., or maybe it was a library book that my mother returned. I don't know. But I found it at a used book store, recently, and it is so familiar to me that I know it was a part of my life long ago.
The book was first printed in 1924 but this reprint was in Aug of 1950. I would have been 6 yrs. old. I love this book. It's red cloth cover is decorated with illustrations by E.H. Shepard. They were called "decorations".
Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956) was a noted English playwright who decided to write a book about a boy and his bear. Christopher Robin (his son's name) and Winnie the Pooh (one of his son's stuffed animals) became so successful that his other work paled in comparison. He was annoyed that the children's books were the only really successful books that he was able to write, but he continued writing these stories because they made a lot of money.

After he died his widow sold the rights ,to the Pooh character, to the Walt Disney Company. Royalties from this sale, and part ownership of the copyright, were used to fund a fellowship program for writers in United Kingdom universities.
There is a poem in this book that is called Puppy and I~ it's one of my favorites. I will leave you with the last stanza....

...I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I.
"Where are you going this nice fine day?"
(I said to the Puppy as he went by)."
"Up in the hills to roll and play."
"I'll come with you, Puppy," said I.

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