Over 140 years ago
a baby was born in my house at 6 School Street in Sandwich, Massachusetts. A
fierce snowstorm made travel impossible on that January 14 in 1874, even the
trains were unable to get through to Boston and Provincetown. But Caroline
Burgess, then 22 years old, probably had plenty of help in the home delivery,
for both she and her young husband Thornton had parents, aunts, uncles, and
cousins, as well as many friends in town. When their first and only child was
born, they named him Thornton Waldo Burgess, Jr. after his father who would die
later that year of tuberculosis.
Presumably Thornton
Burgess himself took the above photo of his birthplace. It was sent to me by
David Cesan, son of Ernestine Johnson, Burgess’ secretary and loyal friend in
his later years in Hampden, Massachusetts. The picture was still in the
original envelope that Burgess, a meticulous man, kept it in.
The return address
was: Burgess Radio Nature League
Hotel Bradford
Boston, Mass.
Hotel KimballSpringfield, Mass.
We who live in old
New England houses are generally realistic about our occupancy and accept that we
are more caretakers than owners. Burgess’ birthplace on School Street, now my
home, was built more or less around 1835, around the time of the Battle of the
Alamo and Andrew Jackson’s Presidency; eight more presidents would follow
Jackson before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861. When the foundation
stones of my house were being laid and square-headed nails being pounded into its
wooden timbers, there were only 25 states in the Union.
A decade before
Thornton Burgess was born here, people would have sat on my front porch in
rockers like the ones in the picture above, discussing national events like the
outbreak of the American Civil War, the horrific, bloody battles at Bull Run,
Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, and the assassination of Lincoln in
1865. Hundreds have preceded me in living in this house at 6 School Street, and hundreds more will undoubtedly follow.
But it is hard to
imagine that any of them achieved or will achieve more than Thornton
Burgess.
During a long and
active career, he played an important role in the dawn of children’s literature,
in the early days of environmental conservation and education, and in the
introduction of radio technology. In 1925 his Radio Nature League went on the
air. Within its first week, the children’s nature program attracted thousands
of listeners, some as far away as England.
His first children’s book was
published in 1910; by the end of 1914 he had written 14 more. In 1915 he added
to his beloved Bedtime Story-Books series with volumes on the adventures of Danny
Meadow Mouse, Grandfather Frog, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, and Sammy Jay, as
well as his last of four novels on Boy Scouts and three other books, nine in
all that year alone. Half of his 70 books are still in print.
A 1973 cartoon based on
his animal stories was created for Japanese television. Within six years it was distributed
internationally as "Fables of the Green Forest" and is today on YouTube. He was honored by the New York
Zoological Society and the Boston Museum of Science (see my post on Bradford
Washburn award).
The distinguished Dr.
Theodore Reed, director of the National Zoological Park commented, “In the
realm of wildlife conservation and natural history education, there is one name
in the United States that must not be forgotten: Thornton W. Burgess.”
Happy Birthday, Mr.
Burgess! Thanks for your lifelong effort to promote appreciation and
stewardship for the wild creatures we share our planet with, whether mice or bears
or hawks or spiders, and for sharing your enduring, deep respect for the environmental ties that link us all.
…and happy birthday
too to Chuck Roth, one of the naturalist’s greatest fans and a longtime
advocate for the environment as education director at the Mass Audubon Society,
and to Bob King, President Emeritus and longtime supporter of the Thornton W.
Burgess Society.
