Teachers World Letters, Jan 1930 - July 1934

[Moonraker]

Thanks, Courtenay. I'd forgotten about that!

[John Pickup]

It's nice to be able to read Enid's letters again. One thing I have noticed where I live is there are very few butterflies about compared to recent years.
I am a big cricket fan and realised who Bobs meant straight away. I would have liked to have seen him bat. Hobbs I mean, not Bobs.
As for the smell after rain, I can smell it now. We have just had a brief thunderstorm here and it does smell earthy now as the sun is trying to peek through the clouds.

[Anita Bensoussane]

A link to this week's letters:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=708" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I enjoyed reading about Enid's cuckoos - I never see or hear any here!

It's interesting to hear more about Captain and Darling too. Enid used their names for horses in the Willow Farm books.

A good photo of the rose-walk, which has been lovingly preserved to this day!

[Poppy]

Wonderful letters again, this week. I never hear any cuckoos either, Anita. They must be rarer now than they were when Enid was alive. Excellent that Enid's baby pigeons had grown so quickly and progressively, too.
I was pleased to read Enid's feedback on her Mistletoe Growing method and great to learn that it actually works. We will probably try it out ourselves, sometime, now we know it is successful.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I think I can only count on one hand the number of cuckoos I've heard!

Glad Enid didn't give Bob's the chocolate if it wasn't doggy chocolate!

[John Pickup]

I have heard the cuckoo for many years but only when it first arrives, usually at the beginning of May. I don't know if they return each year to the same place but I always hear it in the little wood alongside the River Trent near to my home.

[Moonraker]

Another great article in 'today's' The Teachers' World. A sad tale concening a trapped blackbird and a heartwarming tale about an injured dog. However, dog experts of today would flinch at the boy giving the dog a bar of chocolate as I understand it is poisonous to a dog!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enjoyable letters, poems and story. You often read of dogs being given chocolate treats in older books. I wonder whether they've become less tolerant of chocolate over time?

[Daisy]

I was in the middle of posting a similar comment Anita... and I wonder if there is anything in chocolate bars now, which was not included back then. Certainly giving dogs a little bit of "human" chocolate was very common. Mind you, there wasn't an alternative then either!

[Courtenay]

Chocolate is definitely now considered one of the foods you should never give to a dog - much though most of them love it. A friend of mine has a beagle who one day, while everyone was out, got her nose into a huge box of chocolates and ate nearly all of them. The family found her very ill when they came back, and rushed her straight to the vet for emergency treatment - the vet said if she'd been left much longer, she wouldn't have survived.

On the other hand, I've fed small amounts of chocolate to our own dogs at times, before I heard it was so dangerous, and it didn't have any ill effects on them. So I don't know whether the ingredients have changed since Enid's time, or if it's just that the dog has to eat a fair amount before it actually becomes harmful, but it's better not to risk it at all.

But yes, that was a heartwarming story about the boy helping the injured dog, and very sad about the blackbird. Still, it shows that Enid didn't gloss over upsetting things. I'd been wondering if she ever wrote about death at all for her young audience, considering I read recently that she had dear old Bobs continue to "write" his weekly letters even years after the dog himself had died!

Also so heartening to read that Dion's eye did get better after all. What was the puzzle that Bobs talks about in his letter? I've looked back at the last few weeks of 1930 Teacher's World, and can't find it - perhaps I missed it?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Maybe the puzzles were printed separately, so can't be seen in the Cave.

[floragord]

What a lovely letter! We hadn't heard a cuckoo in this country for years, but on holiday last year in the Sologne, a very forested area around the Loire in France, they called nonstop - initially to our great delight but after a week or so we'd got blasé! My husband heard one call in Dorset this spring, but we've never come across any in Sussex.

[Tony Summerfield]

I don't normally put the puzzles in, but I wouldn't want you to feel cheated so I have added this one (or both actually) and you will find them on July 23rd. I won't insult anyone by adding the solutions to a later issue, as they are quite easy!

It is nice to hear that people have been reading the stories, but I haven't recently added them, they have all been there for a considerable time, but nobody seems to have noticed them. It is just the letters and rather poor photos that I am now adding on a weekly basis.

[Poppy]

I think chocolate is considered dangerous to dogs because it contains an ingredient called 'theobromine' (an alkaloid) which is in the same 'family' as caffeine and is a type of stimulant. Theobromine stimulates the nervous system and causes a slightly increased blood pressure. Dogs and some other animals cannot metabolize theobromine as quickly as humans can which causes a more severe effect than on the human body.

Anyway, enjoyable letters, poems and stories this week - the story about the sheepdog was very enjoyable, emotional and satisfying. How nice that the young Farmer's boy rescued it! I can't quite picture how he got it on to his bicycle seat, though, but anyhow an enjoyable little tale. The poem 'Old Shoes' was a surprising style: it seemed a much more mature piece, which several very strong lines and a lot of wonderful description.

Enid's and Bobs' letters were very informative and enjoyable. I was very sorry to read that the poor little blackbird died after being injured on the Raspberry Canes and after Enid took it in to care for it. We've recently rescued a painted lady butterfly, after it must have been knocked by a car or something. It's wing is damaged so it can't fly very well, but it it enjoying relaxing in a small butterfly enclosure out of a kit we used last year. Also wonderful that Dion's eyes fully recovered. I was very sorry to hear of his injury, but I am thrilled he made a good, steady recovery.

[Moonraker]

It is nice to hear that people have been reading the stories, but I haven't recently added them, they have all been there for a considerable time, but nobody seems to have noticed them. It is just the letters and rather poor photos that I am now adding on a weekly basis.

There doesn't seem to be a story here. Or am I doing a 'Chrissie'?