The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-02-21
The Surroundings Amid Which
They Came into Being.
TRADITION OF THE BROWNIE TRIBE.
The Studio OF Palmer Box-He Talks
about His Brownies with the Solicit
tuoe Of Parent.

I through the north window If a room il
p an Office building in lower Broadway
r y. Y. They come into the world witt
the roar Of the street and prOsaic bel
: Of the cable car. the first sounds likeIy
TO fall upon their cars. There is moth
. ing nearer the supernatural about tn
surroundings in which they are born
; The other floors Of the buildings arr
occupied by wholesale dealers in suci
articles as coats, hats, and shoes, which
even the mysterious brownies have
adopted
Palmer COI's studio is not room
that looks as if it had served for 50 Iona
as the birthplace Of these unique little
figures. 1t looks very much like the
sitting room Of a country farmhouse
after the successful visit Of an enter.
prising peddler. The light that falls
through the four large windows foods
the room. There il a stove 10 heat il,
and behind a screen in one corner an
industrious typewriter is at work.
Nothing suggests that the quaint
figures hung about the room in the
form Of dolls, in pictures, woven into
rugs, and grinning On pieces of stamped
calico originated here. But the small
slant-topped desks, covered with a
piece Of blotting paper. entirely plain,
and facing window through which
the light pOurs, was the cradle Of most
Of the brownie brood. Some Of the
first, for the oldest brownies are not Of
native birth, came into this world bv
way Of Canada But the dude, the
lrishman, the policeman, like the great
majority Of the rank and file Of the
brownie band, We're born down in that
office building On Broadway.
The oldest brownie in the lot is now
II years old 1t was in 1881 that Mr.
Cox drew him. Until that time he
had written stories for children and
made their characters animals that
talked like human beings. But chill.
dren found an element Of unreaIjtv in
this that made their sypmathv with
them incomplete. They and Mr., Cox
too wanted characters who could have
all the humor of the brownies, enjoy
themselves just as much, and draw for
their readers such sound and unobtrn.
slVe morals as are always the sum of
brownie experience. So when Mr. Coy
thought Of the old Scotch tradition of
the brownie tribe, which he had often
heard OF from his Scotch neighbors in
Canada, they seemed to him 10 be inst
the sort Of people he wanted in his
books to take the place of the talking
anlmias. The publishers were not in.
clned TO listen to his proposals about
writing a fairy story. They wanted
the anlmlas kept up and fairies, they
said, had already been written about
by so many famous authors. But one
Of the brownie stories was published
IN 1881, and since that time their
creator has never written about anv
thlng else or drawn anything other than
the little figures which have made his
Tame, and are now doing all they can
IN the characteristic, fussy, energetic
brownie manner to make his fortune,
Mr.. Cox takes his brownies very
seriously. He talks about them with
the solicitude of parent. He takes
more interest in their adventures than
child would, and as he sits in his
studlo one would judge from his tone
that ne expected the brownies on the
walls TO drop into his lap and talk
with him. 1t is fourteen wears since
he wrote the first brownie story and
there have been a hundred stories since
that time. But Mr.. Cox says that his
IDEAS travel faster than his hands. and
mat MS fingers are tired when there is
plenty inspiration left. The first suc.
'essful brownie story Mr.. Cox saws If
seemed an imposibility ever to repeat .
The third he was quite certain could
never be accomplished. But it was an
,asier matter than its predecessor, and
ne ideas have come more easily to Mr.
Jox pen for every succeeding story.
The familiar physical traits Of tho
brownies were discovered accidentally b
there was an alpahbet to be designed 3,
ma Mr.. Cox drew some figures ON
Vhlch the letters could be placed. He
leclded to draw them on the stomach {
md chest Of the little men who were .
Importing them. This required them
0 nave large bodies, and in order not
0 detract from the prominence of the
etter IL was necessary that their Iecs {
mould be small and their head as in. ,
onspicuous as possible. Of coure anv |
'ody can see that figure of such nro. l
'ortion must have been brownie i
Vhether intended to be or not Rpt {
ne idea OF the little figures came to Mr.
COX IN this way: The stories descrin.
I've OF the brownies adventures arc Y
ways written before any of the mic.
ures are drawn. Thus, when the $
rownies went travelling and reached d
pam, Mr.. Cox remembered bull fights |
nd had straightway picture in his
ANA $ eye of the brownies being chased a
rom the arena by bull. So he wrote
ne story about it and drew the pictnre t
fterward. i
None OF the brownies has ever nassed
ut OF his owners control. When their
icturos We're printed first in the maya. +
mes 1t was with the condition that n
ney remain the property of the artist !,
10 returned to him when the a
r0WnleS got info a b,.I. q