MTFCA Forum

It's been a long time since I posted this. Some who have joined us since may not have seen it. Enjoy.
http://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG74.html

It is fun to read all over again.
Thanks
Rich

I could read this an unlimited number of times and love it as much each time.

Great read! Thanks.

He also wrote Charlotte's Web, one of the best children's books of all time. Trumpet of the Swan followed but was never as popular as Charlotte.

In a former life I taught grade school. I read Charlotte's Web to the kids at least 17 times, we all cried when Charlotte died.

Not that this has anything to do with E B White, but if you have grandchildren, buy them a copy of Ralph Moody's Little Britches. I also read it at least 15 times. 50 years later, old gray haired men will mention the book to me.

There is a book of E.B. Whites short stories. It isn't his real name either. I remember the first copy of Farewell To Model T I bought. It was in a used book store in Long Beach called Acres of Books. I paid .35 cent for it.

I agree with everyone who says it's a great read no matter how many times you've read it before....

It was in a used book store in Long Beach called Acres of Books.

Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books originally was across the street from Lincoln Park, next to the Newsreel Theater if I remember correctly. Now the park and the theater are long gone and that part of downtown Long Beach is completely unrecognizable. A few decades ago Acres of Books moved to Long Beach Boulevard. It was an amazing place, with over a million books at its height. Sadly, it closed in 2008.

His name was Elwyn Brooks White. Born July 11, 1899, Died Oct 1, 1985.
Graduated Cornell 1921. Worked at New Yorker magazine.
Wrote Farewell My Lovely as an essay in 1936, published as author Lee Stout White in the New Yorker. He later expanded it to a small book under his real name.

He wrote a column called One Man's Meat that was collected in a book. One of the best writers ever. Stuart Little is another of his children's books.

Stuart Little was his first Children's book. I think in about 1947. Charlotte's Web -- as I recall -- came out in 1952. We used to have a program on Public Radio called Listener's Bookstall. I recorded just a chapter or so of Charlotte's Web for them probably 20 years ago. Now I wish I had taken time to record the entire book. I wonder if teachers still read to students?? It's been 40+ years since I taught grade school so now the students I had are middle aged and beyond. When I run in to them now if they remember anything about being in my 5th grade class it is: Me reading to them every day. Singing on Friday. Hatching eggs for Science class. I don't know if the other teachers read to their classes or not.

One year they had a contest to decorate classroom doors with the favorite books and stories. My class voted for "Mr Howe's Tales of Eastern Montana." They drew pictures of our side hill Horses, Ducks frozen in the dam, etc., and a centerpiece one of Digging Post holes with a Auger Fish we caught in the Powder River - where it is so muddy they can't swim, they have to auger their way through the water. We caught one, took it home and sharpened the auger point and used it to dig post holes. My dad chewed Copenhagen and it took him three cans a mile to work up enough brown spit to make a spot on the ground that the Auger fish would dive at and start spinning because they thought that brown spot was the Powder River. They would only fall for it about 25 times and we would take them back to the Powder and throw them back in, then catch another one and dig more post holes until he wouldn't fall for it anymore.

I'd forgotten about that. Somewhere in all my junk I have that door cover that I saved.

I had a couple Model T ones, too. In one my Dad cranked trying to get it started to go to town and get seed until it was time to harvest. I should have written them down.

Went to the neighbor, he asked my dad if we needed a cat. My dad said, "Well, is he a good mouser?" Westly said, "I threw him in the granary the other day and told him to get a mouse. I went back 20 minutes later and called him. He came with one in his mouth and one under each foot, one run by and he swiped at him with his tail, he did, but he missed!" "He's a good mouser!"

Every year or two when this topic comes around on the forum I have to get my copy out and read it......

I have that copy too! It cost me $5.00 at Hershey about 20 years ago, with a good paper cover.

Farewell My Lovely was written by Lee Strout White (pen name of E. B. White and Richard Lee Strout) and published May 16, 1936.

They were both good friends and both received 1978 Pulitzer Prizes, but evidently neither one claimed writing that book.

When I started college in 1964 at the University of Maine, I was required to take two semesters of English Composition and Elements of Style was a required text book.

It has undergone several updates over the years and my last and latest copy was updated and co-authored by E. B. Whites grandson, but I can't find it now.

I don't know if the other teachers read to their classes or not.

In 1949-50 I was in third grade. It was a combination third/fourth grade class. After lunch our teacher Mrs. Edna Gullett read history to the fourth graders, and of course we third graders got to listen too. I loved listening to the stories of Magellan, Da Gama, and other explorers. Thirty years later it was my turn to be the teacher and read to the kids after lunch.

StanHowe wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:27 am

...I don't know if the other teachers read to their classes or not.

When I was in the fifth grade, Mrs. Bellows used to read to us from The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.
I remember her doing different voices for the different characters. For some reason, the phrase, "So there, Polly Pepper, so there!" sticks in my mind as well. I think Mrs. Bellows is partially responsible for my being an avid reader. During my bachelor years (and now as well), if I ate alone in a restaurant, I had to have a book with me to read while I was eating. (Would now as well, if "eat in a restaurant" was still a thing....)

Steve J. wrote:
"In 1949-50 I was in third grade. It was a combination third/fourth grade class. After lunch our teacher Mrs. Edna Gullett read history to the fourth graders, and of course we third graders got to listen too. I loved listening to the stories of Magellan, Da Gama, and other explorers. Thirty years later it was my turn to be the teacher and read to the kids after lunch."



When I read that post my first thought was, "Wow, that Jelf guy must be really old". So then I limbered up my fingers and counted backwards to see when I was in the third grade. Turned out to be 1950-51. So I was right, Steve is really old. But so am I.

Here's my copy.
Copyright date.
This is the name of my friend who gave it to me, and best of all, where he got it.

My copy does not have that page.

Copyright, 1936, by
G. P. Putnam's Sons

Third Impression

Printed in the United States
of America

Is all I have.

The back page has an add:

EITHER AND ME
or
"Just Relax"

The Last and Best Book written by Will Rogers