When We Were Very Young*

A. A. Milne Makes Believe

The worst thing that can happen to anybody is to grow up. Growing old is only part of it; if you don't grow up, how can you grow old? People start by making believe they are grown up and then, the first thing they know, they are. The look at their faces, which have gotten lined or baggy or twisted with pretending to be grown up, and they say "That is I." Sometimes they say "That is me"; then there is still hope for them. A. A. Milne, who wrote this book, is not like these people. He is good at making-believe, as is shown by the fact that he has written some very good plays, which is only making believe according to the rules made by grownups, who make rules about everything. Now he has written some verses for his friend, Christopher Robin, by name. It is sometimes hard to decide who is supposed to be saying the verses--the Author, or Christopher, or Murse, or Hoo. It is probably Hoo, a mysterious person much like a brownie.

In a corner of the bedroom is a great big curtain

Someone lives behind it but I don't know who;

I think it's a Brownie, but I'm not quite certain.

(Nanny isn't certain, too.)

I looked behind the curtain, but he went so quickly,

Brownies never wait to say "How do you do?"

They wriggle off at once because they're all so tickly.

(Nanny says they're tickly, too.)

Not all unusual animals are so hard to see, though most of them hate to have to be polite. For instance, at the Zoo

There are badgers, and bidgcrs and bodgers, and a Supcr-in-tend-ants House,

There are masses of goats, and a polar, and different kinds of mouse

And I think there's a sort of something that's called-a wall-aboo--

But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo.

If you try to talk to the bison, he never quite understands,

You can't shake hands with a mingo-- he doesn't like shaking hands.

And lions and roaring tigers hate saying "How do you do?"

But I give buns to the elephant when I go down to the Zoo.

Elephants, those kingly beasts, get their buns. But there is a rhyme in this book about a King who had a hard time getting so much as a piece of butter for the royal slice of bread. He asked the Queen to tell the Dairymaid to tell the Alderney to be sure to make some butter, but

The Alderney Said sleepily

"You'd better tell his Majesty

That many people nowadays

Like marmalade Instead."

In the end, the Alderney was obedient and made lots of butter. But a certain lady in another rhyme was not obedient. It is sad, the story about her:

James James

Morrison Morrison

Weatherby George Dupree

Took great care of his Mother

Though he was only three.

James James said to his mother

"Mother," he said, said he;

"You must never go down to

the end of the town if you don't go down with me."

She disobeyed, thinking she could get back in time for tea. She hasn't been heard of since, though the King offered a reward. The last verse of this rhyme is like the first ; and after yon have heard all the ones in between, it will not be hard to read it, though it is written this way:

J.J.

M. M.

W. G. Du P.

Took great of his M***

Though he was only 3.

J. J. said to his M***

"M***" he said, said he:

"You-must-never-go-down -to -the-end-of-the-town-if-you-don't-go-down-with-me."

There are many other interesting rhymes : one about the three foxes, who had no stockings or soxes, but kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes ; about rice pudding ; about Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue (they loved each other) ; about the Doormouse and the Doctor (they hated each other) : about four animals -- elephant, lion, goat, snail -- who were friends. With every rhyme there are pictures by E. H. Sheppard which are better than the rhymes if you like pictures better.

The Author. A. A. Milne was born, though few believe it, in 1882. Before the War, he was Assistant Editor of Punch; after the War he wrote plays, six of which-- The Dover Road, Mr. Pim Passes By, The Truth About Blayds, The Lucky One, The Great Broxopp, The Romantic Age-- have been produced in Manhattan.

* WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG -- A. A. Milne-- Dutton ($2.00).