New-York tribune., 1920-02-15
Peter Rabbit and Wildwood
Dwellers Join Tribune Staff
Thornton W. Burgess Ready to Set Forth News of
Meadows, Forests Birds and Animals in Fascinat
ing ''Bed-Time Stories''; Series Begins Tuesday

sonality: The Little People, as he calls
the plrds and animals about which he
writes, are not creatures in a zoo. but
personalities. So successful is Mr..
Burgess in this that wherever the Bed
time Stories are read the children come
to think of their characters as friends
ana companions, not as wild animals
and birds. No child. for instance.
speaks Of having seen hlucjay, but of
seeing Sammy Jay. 1t is Bobby Coon
and Billy Possum and Blacky Crow and
Skinner the Swallow wherever the
Bedtime Stories are read.
And at the same time that Mr.. Bur-
CESS is introducing the children to such
delightful new friends he is not filing
their minds with fiction which attrib-
utes imaginary qualities to the birds
and animals, hut is @eaching them nat
ural history in manner that is not
forgotten. For instance, a nurseryman
who understood that the birds in his
orchard were not destructive, but val
liable because Of the insects they con-
sul:ed, had much troub G with the boys
OF neighhoring school. who stoned
tie birds and robb d the nests After
the Bedtime Stories began to be read
IN the school daily by the teacher the
boys of their own accord organized
themselves into cub to protect the
birds.
) Mr.. Burgess subtly inst Is the doc
.rine Of kindness toward his little wild
friends, rot only for the Ike of hu-
manity, but because tie Little People
are valuable ass starts in the work of
freeing fields ard orchards OF injur-
Gus insects. This knowledge and the
impulse given children to make use of
their eyes and observe close are The
great practical results achicred
through the reading Of the Bedtime
Stories.
Enjoyment For Grown-Ups
But although these stories are osten-
sibly written for children, they num-
ber among their most Faithful readers
many whose hair is tinged with gray.
1t is q matter of court record that a
Western jury, engaged in a long trial
and locked up each night, petitioned
the court to instruct the clerk who
the case to be careful not to cut the
Bedtime Story.
An Indiana man was so sure the Incl
dents related in the stories were gath
cred from his own immediate woods
and meadows that he wrote to ask if
Mr.. Burgess were not an old neighbor.
But man in Far Western state was
equally certain the material was
CLEANED there.
AS matter of fact, Mr.. Burgess was
born on Cape Cod and had lived all
his life In Massachusetts. And the
Bedtime Stories were one OF those &C
cidents with which literature abounds.
One Of Mr.. Burgess's boys was away
from home. To amuse the child his
father wrote and seeI him story each
day. The stories were put away and
almost forgotten.
Mr.. Burgess had an ambition in those
days. 1t was to write the great Ameri-
can novel. He was sure he could do it
but in some way the pot had to be kept
boiling until the royalties on the novel
began to come in. Remembering the
stories he had written for his son and
the chld's pleasure in them, Mr.. Bur
CESS got them out and found pub
Usher for them.
They were an instantaneous success
Now Mr. Burgess doesn't thiQk so.much
about the great American novel. A re-
porter's life is busy one, and now
that Rough Brother North Wind is
about ready to return to his home in
the Land Of Ice there will be lots Of
news to be found in the Green Forest
and tho Green Meadows