Teachers World Letters 1937

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm planning to take a look at the 1937 Teachers World Letters through the year, as I enjoy reading the letters week by week. As I'm a bit late starting, I'll have to do two today!

Enid Blyton's Teachers World page for 6th January 1937 includes the story 'Brer Rabbit's Fence'. I already know it from Brer Rabbit's a Rascal, but it's amusing to read and I remember that Tom uses the same trick in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

It's interesting to hear of Enid and Gillian playing tricks on Hugh! Gillian was only five at the time, so I expect the idea came from Enid! I bought a bar of trick soap when I was a girl, but the black powder in the middle just washed away without leaving much colour on people's hands. How lovely to hear about Gillian's Christmas presents - a toy sweet-shop and a cook's outfit.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1514


Looking at the page for 13th January, I'm familiar with the story 'Lazy Kate' as I have it in Five O' Clock Tales. I like the 'My Little Pig' rhyme! Like Enid, I enjoy seeing early signs of the coming spring!

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1515

[Courtenay]

Very interesting as always, thanks, Anita (and thanks to Tony for all the scans, without which we wouldn't have any of this!).

It feels a bit odd, after last year when we read through Enid's letters of 1942, to jump back to before the war, and from Green Hedges back to Old Thatch! I've never seen either of Enid's most famous houses, but going by pictures, Green Hedges looks like it was a ghastly characterless modern pile in comparison to Enid's beautiful ancient former home. But Old Thatch must have been a lot more difficult to look after and I assume Enid felt the move to Green Hedges was an improvement overall. It's nice to be back at Old Thatch in spirit, though. I wish I'd been an EBS member back when visits to it were still possible!

And yes, it's amusing to hear about the trick soap, though sad to know in retrospect that Enid and Hugh's relationship would only last a few more years, with a lot of pain for her daughters when they weren't allowed to see their father after the divorce. (I still cannot understand why neither of them tracked him down once they were adults and no longer under their mother's control, but I wasn't there and don't know the full circumstances, so I can't really judge.)

Nice to hear Bobs' first book of his collected letters sold out so quickly! I bought the modern reprint of some of his letters, A Dog Called Bobs, for my sister for her birthday a few years ago, as she loves dogs and is another lifelong Blyton fan!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, it does feel a bit odd to jump back to before the war - though it's fascinating to see what life was like for the family back then, with toys and crackers and pudding ingredients so readily available, after having read previously about rationing and restrictions, and about some items being impossible to get. As you say, the children were only to have a few more Christmases with their father (four, I think).

Old Thatch feels very special, Courtenay, and I'm sorry you missed visiting it when the gardens were open to the public - and a large downstairs room in which drinks and cake were served.

I quite like the look of Green Hedges, to be honest, and it would have mellowed with age if it were still standing now, but it goes without saying that Old Thatch has so much more character and history.

I'm glad your sister is also a lifelong Blyton fan! My sister enjoyed Enid Blyton up to the age of about eleven but I don't think she's read any of the books since.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like the story 'Black Bibs', which harks back to legends and fables about how various creatures (or plants, etc.) acquired certain distinctive features. As a child, I read it in Enid Blyton's Book of the Year. Enid tells the tale in such a lively, engaging manner.

It's nice to have a motto for a change.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1516

[Courtenay]

I read "Black Bibs" in the Book of the Year just last week! I've been reading through it week by week since the start of January, and will continue throughout the year.

It's interesting to compare this story with "Little Black Bibs", one of Enid's Pip stories, which (I've just checked the Cave) was first published in 1946, so we can assume it was written 9 years after this one. Both stories have the cock-sparrows getting their black bibs from one of the fairy folk with a pot of paint — Dabble the elf or Pip the pixie — but the earlier story has more of a moral point to it. In the Pip story, the sparrows have a friendly conversation with Pip and start wishing they could have different colours to tell the difference between cocks and hens, like the other birds. Pip agrees to do some painting on them, but soon finds he only has black paint and only enough for either cocks or hens, not both — so the cock-sparrows volunteer to have him give them "a black patch somewhere", and Pip gives them black bibs, with a sense of fun but no reason given for why he chose that. Whereas in the earlier story, with Dabble the elf, it's only the cock-sparrows who go to see Dabble to ask her to paint them, and they have such a loud and silly argument among themselves as to what colours they should have that they wake Dabble from her sleep, and she's so cross with them that she gives them black bibs for being "quarrelsome babies"!

I actually like the Dabble story better, because it comes across as a bit more imaginative to me — giving a clever reason why it's bibs that the sparrows get, and bringing in a familiar aspect of sparrow behaviour: they are quite noisy birds when there's a flock of them, and it does sometimes sound like they're quarrelling with each other!

As you say, Anita, Enid is harking back to legends and fables of how particular creatures came to look or act as they do. Probably all cultures around the world have those — Enid's examples (and Rudyard Kipling's, for that matter) always remind me of the ones we have from the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, many of which I read and loved as a child. I'm very familiar with matters like why the emu can't fly, why the crow is black, why the kangaroo hops on his hind legs and how he got his tail, why the kookaburra laughs at dawn, and so on! (In some cases there's more than one version of a story, and I'm not sure in every case which ones are authentic and which ones were made up by non-indigenous writers imitating the style of Aboriginal legends, but I always enjoyed them regardless and used to make up stories of my own in the same vein.)

[Anita Bensoussane]

I agree that the Dabble story about black bibs for cock-sparrows is slightly better than the Pip one on the same theme - though I enjoy both.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The story 'The Funny Dream' is a little grisly, though the grisly episode is only part of a dream. I've read it before in Enid Blyton's Book of the Year but it's not one that has stuck in my mind.

Bobs' poem, 'I've Got a Bone!', is an absolute delight - very funny indeed! I love the line about the gardener!

Gillian and Hugh are both ill and confined to bed, though Gillian is keeping herself busy making a cane basket and playing with plasticine. It's interesting to hear of Imogen playing with stacking rings. My children had stacking rings when they were small, but theirs were plastic rather than wooden.

Children have been sending in stamps, pennies and silver paper for charity. It's funny to see Enid Blyton calling her young readers "my dears". I don't think I've noticed her using that term before.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1517

[Anita Bensoussane]

'The Red and White Cow' is an enjoyable story, though I notice there's no mention of cows giving us beef! 'A Walk in Early Spring' is great too - it's fun to have a puzzle story.

Bobs' comments about More Letters from Bobs are most amusing! Children must have loved having his letters read to them.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1518

[Anita Bensoussane]

'Cold Weather' is a good poem and I like the story 'The Little Beggars' too, which urges children to provide food for the birds during the winter. Bobs' letter talks of how some outdoor dogs aren't given enough straw to sleep in during the cold weather - or fresh water when the water freezes in their bowls. This would hopefully prompt children to think of their own pets and make sure they're comfortable. It's always lovely to see Enid Blyton encouraging her young readers to look out for animals and care for them.

I wonder how many dogs these days are kept outside in kennels during the harsh winter weather. I think it was quite common several decades ago but I don't think it's as common now, thankfully.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1519

[Kate Mary]

I remember my father-in-law telling me that they used to keep their dog in an outside kennel, that would have been in the late 1940s and early 1950s. How times have changed, I should imagine that all dogs are house pets now except for some working dogs maybe. Thank you for drawing our attention to these wonderful columns Anita, the poem ‘Cold Weather’ is brilliant.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Bobs' comments on "hooping-cough" (as he calls it) are hilarious!

It's also fun to hear of Imogen being "a perfect little scamp." Enid adds, "If you remember, I once told you that her names are Imogen Mary, and her surname is Pollock - so if you take the first three letters of her names, you will see that they make IMP - and we think she is a real IMP! What do you think?"

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1520

[Courtenay]

Lovely letters as always, and I enjoyed the Brer Rabbit story, which was one I hadn't read before. Presumably one that Enid herself invented rather than an adaptation from Uncle Remus / Joel Chandler Harris, as I doubt "the wireless" came into any of the original Brer Rabbit tales!

It is lots of fun to read about the children's antics, especially young Imogen. Enid comes across as an attentive and caring mother here, which is quite a contrast with what Imogen as an adult later had to say about her — I always find it surprising that Enid's two daughters seemed to have such opposite views of their mother and her parenting skills, or lack thereof. But I wasn't there and I never knew any of them personally, so I can't judge. Giving a child a set of names with initials that spell IMP is a little bit cruel, though I assume it wasn't intentional! My own initials spell CAR, which I always found slightly annoying as a child, but at least it wasn't anything that anyone could use against me teasingly. Unlike Imogen's name, or indeed that of one of Enid's own greatest literary creations, Frederick Algernon Trotteville...

Interesting that Enid here reveals that her children's surnames are different from her own, or at least from the name she used publicly as a writer (I'm guessing she was otherwise known as Mrs Pollock at the time). Of course these days it's quite common for women to not change their surname when they get married, or for someone to go by a different name professionally, but back in the 1930s I can imagine this could have been a surprise to some young readers, who might not have encountered that kind of situation before!

[Anita Bensoussane]

It is interesting about the different surname being revealed. Some young readers/listeners might also have had a mother who used her maiden name professionally, and others may have worked things out for themselves - or had the situation explained to them by their teacher.

I don't mind the idea of initials spelling "Imp". It would make a rather endearing nickname - though I've never heard that Imogen was ever called "Imp". By 1945 she was using the surname "Darrell Waters" anyway. She writes in A Childhood at Green Hedges:

By this time [September 1945, when Gillian and Imogen were packing for Benenden and Godstowe respectively] we both used the name Darrell Waters. Earlier in the year my mother had proposed that Gillian's name should be changed when she changed schools, but that mine, for convenience, should be left as Pollock. I may not have been a very happy member of the family, but the thought of being the only one with my father's name, perhaps a preface to complete abandonment, shocked me into hysterical protest. Although my Deed Poll certificate was not signed for another ten years, when I needed my first passport, my mother gave in on the use of Darrell Waters for me with good grace, and the name tapes were dutifully changed.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I love the poem 'My Legs', which I've never read before, and 'The Two Cats' is a simple but thought-provoking story with a strong message. As for Bobs, he's on top form and is clearly revelling in the success of his latest book! His humorous comments are a joy to read!

Fancy it being warm enough for Enid Blyton to do some writing outside!

I'm not sure what's meant by "the garden room" but it's interesting to hear of the thatch being replaced by wooden shingles.

Thanks as always to David Chambers and Tony for making these wonderful Teachers World pages available to us.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1521

[Courtenay]

Very interesting letters as always! It mustn't have been as cold in late February 1937 as it was today in late February 2024, as I went out for a walk today and even though the sun was shining much of the time, it was decidedly cold and I certainly wouldn't have sat outside if I had any writing to do!

I have seen some of the things Enid asks her readers to look out for at the end of her letter. "Have you seen any almond blossom?" Yes, there's an ornamental blossom tree out the front of my block of flats, which I'm pretty sure is one of the almond / plum family, and it's come into flower quite early this year and is absolutely covered with white blossoms, which would make beautiful natural confetti if someone was getting married at just this time! And "Have your daffodils pushed up buds between their leaves in the garden?" — yes, on my walk today I saw quite a few daffodils with buds on, and some in flower already if they were in a very sheltered spot! I haven't gone looking for frog-spawn or found any snails taking a walk, though...

Bobs' letter is lots of fun as always — I'm not surprised his first book of letters was a sell-out success and his second one sold 18,000 copies within just a few weeks! I was delighted a few years ago when some of his letters were reprinted by Enid's modern publisher — I gave that book to my sister (also a Blyton fan and dog-lover) for her birthday.

I was wondering why the children of Council Infants' School, Blackhall Mill, called Wednesday "Bobsday", and then I guessed that Teachers World was probably issued on Wednesdays. I just did a search online to see a 1937 calendar and I was right — this issue is dated February 24, and that was a Wednesday, so that must have been the day that the children had Enid's and Bobs' letters read to them each week. Obviously something they looked forward to, and who can blame them?

My Legs is a delightful sweet poem! The Two Cats sounded familiar as I started reading it, and I see from the notes above the scanned page that it was reprinted in Five O'Clock Tales, which I bought years ago and still have. As you say, Anita, a simple story but with a strong message. I know when I was growing up, I was always saddened that there seemed to be so much more pressure on people (girls especially) to match up to certain standards of "beauty", rather than to focus on what one could do to help others and to make the world a better place, even in small ways, and I'm afraid that's still pretty much the case today, so that short story is still a relevant one.