The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-17
THE BROWNIE Man
OPENS HIS HEART
Palmer Cox Tells How He
Found the Merry Little
People.
Great Demand of Publishers for
Brownie Stories and
Sketches.
The Author Dwelt in San Francisco
From 1862 to 1875 and Served
in the National Guard.

Palmer Cox, artist and writer who has
gained world wide celebrity as the creator
of the Brownies" is delighted to be in
California. He lived in San Francisco from
1862 to 1875, and had as many happy days
and joyful nights as any other mortal of
his class. He belongs yet to the California
Chapter of Masons, and Mission Lodge is
still his Masonic shrine. Through all the
years of his travel and toll he has pre-
served his standing and mem bership in
that lodge.
Palmer Cox was also q member of the
National Guard of California, when in that
elder day to be a guardsman was greater
than to be q king. When Cox carried
musket in the ranks of G Company, First
Infantry, Colonel W. II. L. Barnes rode at
the b cad of the regiment, and George w.
Granniss was Northumberland.
The precious jewel IN Palmer Cox'S lit
erary crown is his record as a contributor
| to the Golden Era. Among his brother
| writer's were Bret Harte and Charles War
rem Stoddard. Joe Lawrence, editor OF the
Era, encouraged his young contributor
| Stoddard to abandon verse and adopt
prose. AS an incentive for this change he
[ offered the tempting mpensatlon OF
| dollar column. Mr.. Cox's contributions
required illustration and so many difficult
| ties were encountered.
| In 1875 Palmer Cox went to New York.
There he buckled down to life of study
| and work. The great artists occupied the
| field, and there seemed to be no way OF
| getting ahead on the old lines. New ideas
were demanded. Cox went to Central
| Park and studied the animals. He
sketched them as beings attired in human
| habilaments, and, writing his story around
the sketch, made the animals talk of their
| lot in life, and such pathetic talk it was
that the boys and girls who lead st.
Nicholas had much sympathy for the fox
and bear.
| Publishers demanded the stories and
sketches. but still Mr.. Cox had higher
| ideals, and finally it struck his fancy to
sketch the Brownies" His memory
| held a shadowy impression Of Preside
| legends concerning fairies of Scotland
/ who were invisible to mortal eyes. These
| elves were all of the male persuasion. so
| the tradition said, and according to per-
| sons gifted with second sight, the only
| human beings who could see them, the
Brownies, were Jolly, laughing little
| fellows. who lived in the night. like some
OF the. boys of this modern epoch, and
| sought seclusion at the first slant of sun
| beams.
| The "brownie" sketches and stories
1 scored an instant success. The publish
ers were besieged by inquiring subscribers
who wanted to know more than the con-
| tributor knew about the literature of the
| tradition, and Cox himself had to delye
and dig in ancient lore TO keep up with
the pace of his own setting. He proved
| that the Brownies" lived in the lore of
| Scotland away back in the fourteenth GEN.
| ury. King James spoke of them, but he
| fanc:ed that they were staIwart COLLINS.
| Obviously Palmer Cox's Imagination
supplied what was lacking or shadowy in
tradition. He accepted one fairy tale as
| the basis of his work. The narrative de-
picted the Brownies" all of the male sex,
| as full of fun and pranks. but very helpful
| to people in need or in distress.
AS the tradition goes the good house
| wife, whose knitting was unfinished at
night, left it for the Brownies to do. She
also left milk for the elves. If the work
of spading the garden was not done the
man of The house left some malt for the
Brownies to brew. When me rning came
the mystic power of the Brownies had
done the knitting and spaded The garden.
| In this way the Brownies came to be re-
| garded as helpful spirits
To please the children Cox gave the
| Brownies of his Imagination a broad
| laughing face, bullying eyes and baby's
| bold head and short neck. The legs OF a
sprite were given to the body of a man.
All the world of little people talked about
| the Brownies, and Cox had to work like
the old Harry to keep up with the de-
| mand for rhymes and pictures which st.
Nicholas and Harper's Young People de-
| manded.
Finally, whole raft of Brownies was
| f1oated, and then came the inevitable de-
| mand to put them on the stage. To get
some girls in the play Mr.. Cox introduced
fairies such as Ida Mule, and to get men
of size demons were brought in. The
little fairy ladies weigh SO, 81 or 9S pounds.
| The Brownies are fifteen or twenty pounds
heavier. The demons are strapping big
actors, and they invite Vulcan TO destroy
the fairies and the Brownies with fire and
| food. The Goddess of Mirlh is invoked to
| save the elves from the wrath of Vulcan.
This is the third season of the Brownie
company, but the spectacle is now
west of the Mississippi River for he first
time. The players will show at the Baldwin
Theater this evening.