The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-01-24
BIRTHPLACE OF THE BROWNIES
Commonplace Surroundings Amid
Which They Came Into Being.

one quarter of the world or another
know that these interesting people
first saw the light through the north |
window of a room in an office building
in lower Broadway. They come into
the world with the roar of the street
and the prosaic bell of the cable car,
the first sounds likely to fall upon
| their ears. There is nothing nearer
the supernatural about the surround
| ings in which they are born. The
other floors of the buildings are occu-
pied by wholesale dealers in such ar
ticles as coats, hats and shoes, which
even the mysterious brownies have
adopted.
Palmer Cox's studio is not a room
that looks as if it had served for so
long as the birthplace of these unique
little figures. It looks very much like
the sitting-room of a country farm
house after the successful visit of an
enterprising peddler. The light, that
falls through the four large windows
floods the room. There is a stove to
heat it. and behind 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 gfinning ON
lpieces of stamped calico originated
here. But the small slant-topped
desks, covered with a piece of blotting
paper, entirely plain, and facing a
window through which the light pours,
was the cradle of most Of the brownie
brood. Some of the first, for the old
est brownies are not OF native BIRTH
came into this world by way of Can
ada. But the dude, the Irishman, the
policeman, like the great majority of
the rank and file of the brownie band.
were born down in that office building
on Broadway.
The oldest brownie in the lot is now
IA 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 children
found an element of unreality in this
that made their sympathy 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 un-
obstrusive morals as are always the
SUM of brownie experience. So when
Mr. Cox thought of the old Scotch
tradition of the brownie tribe, which
: he lad often heard of from his Scotch
neighbors in Canada, they seemed to
be just the sort of people he wanted
in his books to take the place Of the
talking animals, The publishers were
!, not inclined to listen to his proposals
about writing a fairy story. They
wanted the animals kept up, and
E 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 new
1 er written about anything else OF
o drawn anything other than the little
l figures which have made his fame
!. and are now doing all they can in the
characteristic, fussy, energetic brownie
] manner to make his fortune.
Mr.. Cox takes his brownies very
l seriously. He talks about them will
E the solicitude of a parent. He takes
l more interest in their adventures thar
> a child would, and as he sits in his
{ studio one would judge from his tone
: that he expected the brownies on the
{ walls to drop into his lap and talk
1 there have been a hundred stories since
: he wrote the first brownie story, and
$ there have been a hunder stories since
: that time. But Mr.. Cox says that his
ideas travel faster than his hands
and that his fingers are tired wheI
there is plenty inspiration left. The
> first successful brownie story Mr.
;, ever to repeat. The third he was
:. quite certain could never be accom-
: Iplished. But it was an easier matter
y than its predecessor, and the ideas
. have. come more easily to Mr.. CoX's
: ipen for every succeeding story.
q The familiar physical traits of the
!, brownies We're discovered accidentally
a There was an alphabet to be designed
and Mr.. Cox drew some figures or
: which the letters could be placed He
. > decided to draw them ON the stom
!, achs and chests of the little men who
: were supporting them. This requires
:, them to- have large bodies, and in or
der not to detract from the prominence
: of the letter it was Necessary that theil
y legs should be small and their heads
, as inconspicuous as possible. OF
: course anybody can see that figure
Iof such proportions must have beer
? a brownie, whether intended to be
one or not. But the idea of the little
; figures came to Mr.. Cox in this way
The stories descriptive of the brownies
, adventures are always written before
: any of the pictures are drawn. Thus
. when the brownies went travelling and
! reached Spain, Mr.. Cox remembered
:, bull fights and had straightway a pic
ture in his minds eye of the brownies
, ; being chased from the arena by a
bull. So he wrote the story about ii
: and drew the picture afterward.
None of the brownies has ever passed
out of the owners control. When
, their pictures were printed first in the
magazines it was with the condition
that they remain the property of the
,, artist to be returned to him when
, !, the brownies got into a book. In
,, whatever magazine they We're printed
they were used only temporarily, and
they remained the property of their
creator At first there were no such
interesting variations in the race as
the dude brownies or any, of the ma
tional brownies. AS these types We're
drawn Mr.. Cox had them copyrighted
lat Washington, and nobody can use
them. The brownies in jewelry. calico
and carpets have been sold to different
companies that pay Mr.. Cox a royalty
for their use and the figures are copy
lrighted. Now that they have got onto
the stage the brownie costumes and
accessories are so protected that they
can never get under other control
than Mr.. Cox's.
|
/ A WINNERS DREAM.