The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1894-07-19
THE BROWNIE MAN,
A Sketch Of Palmer Cox, Poet ant
Artist

Artist.
From the n. o. Picayune.l
There are few children in the coun-
try who have not become well ac-
quainted with the Brownies in the
last few years. Several of the papers
and magazines published especially
FOR children have printed from time
to time charming verses about them,
telling about their FRANKS and their
kind deeds, and illustrated with
many curious and amusing pictures
of the funny little folks; and these
articles have been gathered together
and printed III books, which have
been very widely circulated all over
the country. But probably a great
many OF the children have but little
idea of the man who has written
these verses and made the pictures.
1t is Palmer Cox; and he was born
In the town OF CRANKY, province of
Quebec, Canada, about 81 years ago.
Mr.. Cox, when he was young, did not
know that he WAS a poet aud an
artist, but he was all the same.
Poets and artists have to be born so,
and he was. When he was a little
boy, living far up in the northern
part of Canada, he had for neigh
Dor an old Scotch woman, who knew
all the queer stories that the country
people of Scotland love TO tell one
another during the long winter even
fngs, and she liked to talk to the
little boy, and he loved to sit with
her, and to hear her tales of the do
ings of Brownies, and such like
mysterious people. The stories took
hold Of his poet Imagination, and he
used to think about them a good
deal, and wish that he could see the
Brownies; and he would make pie
lures of what he thought they were
like on his slate at school, when he
ought to have been studying his
lessons. He studied his lessons too,
however, and when he became d man
he became an engineer, and went to
California to work at his business.
But a poet cannot help writing
poetry, nor an artist help
making pictures, any more than a
mocking bird can help singing; and
VIXEN he was not too busy at some
thing else Mr.. Cox wrote verses and
made pictures, which thepapers were
glad to print. His writing and his
drawing was SO good thatthe papers
and magazines kept asking him for
more. So finally he gave up his
other business and moved to New
York, where be devoted all his time
to drawing and writing.
That was about twenty years ago,
but it was some time after that be-
fo- e he made his first pictures OF
Brownies to be printed 1t came
about in this way. A man was going
to print primer, for little children
to learn to read out of, and he asked
Mr.. Cox if he could not make some
pictures for it, something that would
please the little children, and be diff
erent from other such books. Mr..
Cox said that he thought he could,
and he made a Brownie Alphabet,
with the Brownies holding up each
letter. Those were the first Brownies
in print. and they pleased the chill
dren that saw them SO much shat
Mr. Cox began to write verses about
the Brownies, with pictures of them,
and send them to st. Nicholas and
other magazines tor children. Since
then he has written a great many of
them, and the children have been
delighted with them all.
Mr.. Cox has often been asked to
draw pictures and write verses for
grown-up people to read, but he says
that he doesn't think that he could
il he tried. He says that he might
make pictures of people, and call
them men and women, but he is sure
that they would look more like
Brownies than anything else. He
says that he sees everything with
eyes. That is a little odd
too. For Mr.. Cox has never married
and has no children of his own.