Evening star., 1924-08-03

thought to the characteristics Of the
Brownies.
He gave them pop-eyes to show
that they had keen vision and could
see at night; big ears. to show that
they were sharp of hearing: round
stomachs, to make them look COM
Portable and well fed, and spindIy
legs and long, tapering feet. to in
In that first manuscript he drew only
what he called the ordinary Brownie
type. but as he went on, he began
creating individuals. ] think the
nrst one was the 1rishman. The
Brownie Dude soon followed. and !
think he became the greatest favor
ite of all.
StickIcr for Accuracy.
COX was such stickler for ac-
curacy that when he was doing The
Brownies Around the World he visit
ed all the places himself. to be sure
'of getting the setting right have
some postals he sent me from that
trip Most of them were in rhyme
To write in rhyme seemed to be
natural for him. He was a tremen-
dous reader. He liked the old-fash-
toned poets-LongfeIlow and Byron
ann scott. ] think he was consider
ably influenced by Scott. He was A
great reader of the Bible, too: IT
seemed to me he knew it by heart"
Al question, Douglas laughed
NO J don't believe Cox would have
cared much for the Greenwich Village
school. | doubt if he would have ap-
preclated the poems of Miss Edna St.
vincent Millay. He was old ia sh
Toned In his tastes, both as to poetry
and people.
He didn't smoke or drink. He
wasn't a prohibitionist. and I suppose
ne could have taken his drink if ne
wanted to. but he just didn't care
ABOUT H. Sometimes at night he would
go out with me for something to eat.
and a couple of crullers. He liked
cruIlers when he was i boy in Can
ada, and he still liked them, and he
saw no reason to change.
he dressed plainly and always
Brownie pin i'll it. 1 never saw him
without that pin. He was a member
OF All Angels Church. up on West
Eightieth street, and attended regu-
larly.
'Recrea tions? Well. he had an old
fashioned high bicycle when they
were the vogue and used to do a lot
OF wheeling around on Long Island.
Later he discarded il and got a low
| one. Then he had a little motor boat
| when he lived at Ououue and was
quite fisherman.
Loved Children's Letters.
But best of all he loved the letters
the children used to write him. l re-
member one little girl wrote: I had a
little brother. but he died and the
Brownies have been little brothers TO
me ever since Another said: Dear
MIR. Cox: Are there really and trr'',
Brownies" If SO. ] wish You would
send me one The love Of children
was inherent in him.
He had no ear for music at all.
The Brownie play ran five Years and
In GOV rl,-o
peared in it for two years. drawing
Brownies on the stage. One night it
was being presented in st. Louis. and
when he and l went down to dinner
In the Southern Hotel the orchestra
began playing something that made
Cox prick up his ears and looked puz-
zled. Where have / heard that? he
asked. That's the Brownie music,
7 said. L thought it sounded ia
| miliar,' he remarked.
Cox did we'll financially, though
when he began the Brownies such
things were not paid for as they are
| now. ST. Nicholas paid him SIS an
article, which included the verses and
four or five illustrations. Seeing their
tremendous popularity. the Ladies
Home Journal sent Edward Box to
New York to see about getting an
| article month for a year. Cox told
him ST. Nicholas had first claim, but
II the Journal would make him an of
fer he would put it up to St. Nicholas
and If st. Nicholas wished to meet it
he would feel bound to stay, but if
not. he would be free to draw for the
Ladies' Home Journal.
Mr.. Box asked him to name a
figure. He said $3.50 an article. That
seemed to Mr.. Box a very high price,
but he submitted it to Mr.. Curtis
who also thought it pretty stiff. but
finally agreed to it.. Cox put it up to
st. Nicholas, which felt it was higher
than they cared to go. and so the
Brownies went to the Ladies' Home
A Creative Artist.
"A few months ago Mr.. Box was
here and recalled the transaction. AT
that time $3.50 an article seemed enor-
nous, he said, but if it were today,
! and they were having such a vogue,
and the Journal was after them, we
should probably pay him $4,000 or
800 600 for the twelve
When Cox was just accommodating
his fortune he put good deal of it
In savings banks here. His name was
dragged into some operation out West
and 1 went with him to the different
savings banks and saw him draw
$4,000 to discharge all the debts that
had been incurred, though they had
been incurred by some one else and
| not by him at all. That was the kind
of man he was
He was an artist who created
something that will be immortal; but
| a oil Dol