Day 1 - Trot & Cap'n Bill caught in whirlpool - overnight in cavern
Day 2 - They meet the Ork - enter the Hole and the Tunnel - walk until night
Day 3 - They start at 9 AM - reach Pessim's Island - Ork eats magic berries -
  night in Pessim's shed
Days 3-5 - "For three days" they live on the island
Day 6 - "On the fourth day" Ork suggests carrying Trot & Cap'n
  Bill to mainland - they reach Mo - night on mountain with Bumpy Man
Day 7 - Snow overnight - Trot's party meets Button-Bright - they are carried
  over the desert to Jinxland - Ork leaves to find Orkland - Trot, Cap'n Bill,
  & Button-Bright are separated - Cap'n Bill enchanted - Trot &
  Button-Bright spend night with Pon - Scarecrow visits Glinda and begins journey
  to Jinxland
Day 8 - Scarecrow crosses mountains surrounding Jinxland - Button-Bright gets
  lost in early AM - Blinkie enchants Gloria - Scarecrow meets Cap'n Bill, hatches
  plan to overthrow Krewl - Button-Bright meets Ork, who plans a rescue - Krewl,
  Googly-Goo defeated & Cap'n Bill & Gloria disenchanted
Day 9 - Gloria made Queen - Orks carry Cap'n Bill, Trot, Button-Bright,
  & Scarecrow to Oz, and leave - night in Wizard's house
Day 10 - Scarecrow caught in waterfall - night in Wizard's house
Day 11 - Scarecrow restuffed in AM - Dorothy & Betsy arrive at Glinda's
  c. 4 PM - night in Glinda's palace
Day 12 - Reception for Trot & Cap'n Bill in Emerald City

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 14:28:13 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-09-98
 
SCARECROW Comments:
Since there usually aren't any Digests over a weekend, and I'm going to be
out of town much of next week, I thought I'd make a few preliminary
comments in this post.
 
It's interesting that Baum says Cap'n Bill is "not so very old," when he
almost always refers to him as "the old sailor."
 
Cap'n Bill's pipe-smoking would be Politically Incorrect if this book were
to be published today.
 
The full-page picture of Trot in Chapter 1 makes her look a rather sexy 16
or so to me. (Flat-chested, but then few if any of Neill's young-adult
women are voluptuous enough to show much of a bustline in the kind of dress
Trot's wearing here.) I think this is because her head is small with
respect to her body; a rough estimate (since her lower legs and feet don't
show) is that she's about 8 heads tall in this picture, which is typical of
an adult and not of a child. I forget the rule of thumb for children, but I
think that a ten-year-old should be more like 5-6 heads tall.
 
And speaking of pictures, while Trot seems to be dark-haired in the picture
mentioned above, she seems to be blonde in most of the rest of the pictures
in both this book and her two pre-Oz appearances. (Since she's usually
wearing a hat of some sort it's not as clear as it is with Dorothy or
Ozma.) Starting with _Rinkitink_, though, she seems to be brunette through
the rest of the series.
 
Does Pessim reminds anyone else of a couple of people on the Digest? :-)
 
I wonder why Cap'n Bill didn't take more berries of both sorts with them?
They could have come in very handy. I also wonder how the berries managed
to shrink their clothes and all the stuff in Cap'n Bill's pocket, as well
as his wooden leg. Must be highly selective magic.
 
I think Baum got carried away with his "Mountain Ear" pun. If the mountain
can't hear what's going on in the world, how can it hear the Bumpy Man
telling it what he's heard?
 
I've only gotten as far as their hearing Pon's story in my rereading, so I
don't have any more comments at the moment. Maybe I'll send a few more
comments on Monday.
 
David Hulan

Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 11:28:39 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: SCARECROW OF OZ
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
I see SCARECROW tracing the progress of Trot and Cap'n Bill from a solitary
pair to two of a community of friends. From SKY ISLAND we know they live
with Mrs. Griffith[s], a powerful personality, near a small town. Yet in
this book Trot's mother merits one sentence (p. 15), the town none; we see
the girl and the sailor alone on a bluff, even more alone in their dinghy,
and soon completely cut off in the underwater cave. 

  Gradually Trot and Cap'n Bill connect with others. The Ork joins them.
They stay briefly on Pessim's island--an unhappy community of four. Then
Mo, where the Mountain Ear is a contrast to Pessim; he's separate from his
fellow Momen, too, but he's connected to their welfare (p. 94), to his
mountain, and to the birds (who call to him by name, p. 112). There by luck
our pair meet their old friend Button-Bright. 

  Jinxland is a larger society, but still isolated by the Desert and the
gulf. [I remember this story as fitting in the latter half of the book, so
I was surprised to see it actually start 1/3 of the way through and take up
fully half the chapters.] Friendly as the Jinxlanders seem, the Americans
are still "strangers" among them (p. 203). 

  Finally, Trot and Cap'n Bill go to Oz proper. In these final chapters,
they reprise their previous adventures: again we see an Ork flight over a
natural barrier, lonely cottages, an underground cavern, swirling water, a
castle. Thus, when Trot and Cap'n Bill end up in the Emerald City, they've
symbolically traveled both: 
* forward to the end of their journey, the vast community of Oz. 
* back to the start of their journey, or home. 
 
SCARECROW starts by contrasting the outlooks of Cap'n Bill and Trot. The
sailor thinks there's a limit to what we can know; Trot disagrees. This
echoes SEA FAIRIES statement that they "represented the 'beginning and the
end of life'" (p. 12). It also reflects Cap'n Bill's tendency to worry and
Trot's readiness to try new plans. However, the book doesn't seem to
support one's outlook above the other; the friends never go separate ways
because of their contrasting philosophies. Rather, this difference serves
to underscore their closeness. Even when they disagree, Trot always tries
to stick by the sailor, and Cap'n Bill always listens to the girl. 

  Button-Bright takes up a third position on what we can know: "It tires me
to think, and I never seem to gain anything by it. When we see the people
who live here we will know what they are like, and no 'mount of thinking
will make them any different" (pp. 121-2). And why wouldn't he? The one
time we've seen Button-Bright really think things through--sneaking into
the Boolooroo's treasure room in SKY ISLAND--he didn't achieve his goal.
 
The Ork is not only an unusual animal, he's an unusual animal companion for
the Oz books. He's the first not to go home with either the
child-protagonist or Ozma. "Are you *our* Ork?" Trot asks him. "No, I'm my
own Ork," he insists (p. 66). Later he reprimands Button-Bright for playing
with his propeller: "It happens to be my tail, and I reserve the right to
whirl it myself" (p. 110). 

  Only gradually does the Ork come to accept Trot and Cap'n Bill as
friends, rather than queer traveling companions. In the early chapters he
never calls them by name; later he addresses "Cap'n Bill" twice [though he
never addresses Trot by name]. He's clearly concerned about the old sailor
and Trot when he talks to Button-Bright (p 216). In turn, the Ork becomes
Trot's "old friend" (p. 249). Nevertheless, the Californians always address
him as "Mr. Ork" or "friend Ork," never "Flipper" (p. 36), even when there
are other Orks around. 

  Throughout SCARECROW the Ork is bold in his actions and keen in his
planning. When trapped in an underground cave, he braves the waters to swim
out (p. 35), and wants to go into the tunnel right away (p. 39); Cap'n Bill
has been far more cautious. The humans couldn't make it through the tunnels
without the Ork (pp. 45, 56). On the island he has the breakthrough idea of
shrinking down his companions (p. 76). He chooses to cross the Deadly
Desert (p. 118). Even after achieving his own goal, the Ork returns to
rescue Button-Bright, save the Scarecrow, dethrone Krewl, and capture
Blinkie. And finally, of course, he brings Trot and her party to Oz.

  When Gloria announces she'll marry Pon, "the Ork sneezed twice and said
that in his opinion the young lady might have done better" (p. 244). And he
should know. He's become an epic hero, the sort princesses traditionally do
marry (at least, perhaps, Ork princesses). I imagine choruses back in
Orkland squawking the saga of Flipper, the brave young Ork who flew away to
see "the creatures called Men" (p. 37); endured whirlpools and biting
candles and shrinking berries; led an Ork army to capture a Men kingdom;
and still made it home for his uncle's party! 
 
J. L. Bell                           JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 12:52:06 -0700
From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff <vovat at geocities.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
David:
>Cap'n Bill's pipe-smoking would be Politically Incorrect if this book were
>to be published today.
 
I fail to see why.  Cap'n Bill's smoking is hardly encouraging children
to smoke, if that would be the rational behind it.
 
>I think Baum got carried away with his "Mountain Ear" pun. If the mountain
>can't hear what's going on in the world, how can it hear the Bumpy Man
>telling it what he's heard?
 
Telepathy, perhaps?
--
Nathan Mulac DeHoff
DinnerBell at tmbg.org or vovat at geocities.com

"All I know could be defaced by the facts in the life of Chess Piece Face."

Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 20:03:34 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-12-98
 
A few more comments on _Scarecrow_ before I disappear to Tennessee for the
next few days:
 
The passage: "When the Scarecrow was so nearly burned up the girls
[including Ozma] all shivered a little, and they clapped their hands in joy
when the flock of Orks came and saved him."
 
seems to me to confirm the theory that the Magic Belt had lost a
significant part of its power between _Emerald City_ and _Scarecrow_. If it
hadn't, surely Ozma could have rescued the Scarecrow without having to wait
for the Orks. And considering how important he was to Oz, surely she
wouldn't have just left it to chance!
 
The argument against vegetarianism in Oz seems reinforced by the statement
that Button-Bright was beating the end of a bass drum with the bone of a
turkey-leg after the feast in Jinxland. (Granted, Jinxland isn't typical of
Oz, but, still, at the same time...)
 
I guess that's it for comments at the moment. I'll see what I have to say
about other people's when I'm back home again.
 
David Hulan

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 11:38:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
David Hulan: A few years back David and I were discussing (by mail) 
Trot's parents and feeling uncomfortable with the announcement that 
Trot can't go home again and can't even communicate with home or 
ask to have her parents brought to Oz.  (Of course, on the writing side 
of it, Baum presumably didn't want to repeat the emotional effect of 
bringing Dorothy's parental figures to Oz with what would look like 
essentially the same scene done over if the Griffiths got to come.)  I 
commented that Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths might have died in the storm that 
brought Trot and Cap'n Bill to Oz.  David pointed out that there 
*wasn't* any storm -- Trot and Cap'n Bill start their travels in 
"Scarecrow" with a whirlpool, not a storm.  I hadn't reread the book 
recently at that point, so accepted that objection.  Rereading now, 
though, it strikes me that there is actually a storm, although all we see 
of it is its start, in the formation of the whirlpool.  Cap'n Bill is worried 
by the still, sultry (even though cloudless) weather, and is expecting a 
storm to be about to start; when he sees the whirlpool, he explains that 
it is caused by a whirl in the air.  So it sounds as if Trot and Cap'n Bill 
are getting caught up at the very start of just such a whirlwind as 
started Dorothy's travels.  (And would Baum have intended such an 
explanation?  Well, it looks to me as if intended readers to assume a 
storm, and I suppose possibly at some point in the writing he might 
have considered announcing that the Griffiths died in it, but if so he 
decided not to do it that way.)
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 18:30:39 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: SCARECROW OF OZ and more
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
After posting my comment on the Moon's phase affecting how dark nights are,
I was pleased to come across this comment of the Ork's (p. 247): "It is a
fine moonlight [sic] night," and therefore right for flying. 
 
Some more SCARECROW comments:

  I've read recently that a whirlpool of the sort Baum describes in chaps.
1-2 doesn't actually exist in nature, just in bathtubs. It was thought to
be real in his time, however.

  Under the water, "Trot was almost sure unseen arms were about her,
supporting her and protecting her" (pp. 22-23). Alongside the sea-maiden
pictures on pp. 12 and 22, this makes me think her mermaids are back. And
we know from SEA FAIRIES that those mermaids can bring her and Cap'n Bill
"hundreds of miles" in a brief time (p. 43). Perhaps they deliberately
carried Trot away from the California coast to the Nonestic.

  Nevertheless, she's in dire straits for a while. For the first time in a
Baum book I worry about the heroine actually starving to death. Food's
always a big concern for kids, but for the first third of this book every
morsel--of fish, of melons, of candy and popcorn--is hard-earned. Only when
they reach Oz do Trot and her companions seem assured of their next meal.
And the dinners that the Wizard provides by magic are the best of all! 
 
Dave Hulan wote:
<<Cap'n Bill's pipe-smoking would be Politically Incorrect if this book
were to be published today.>>
 
Jinxland was a no-smoking area (p. 141). 
 
Dave Hulan wrote:
<<I wonder why Cap'n Bill didn't take more berries of both sorts with them?
They could have come in very handy. I also wonder how the berries managed
to shrink their clothes and all the stuff in Cap'n Bill's pocket, as well
as his wooden leg. Must be highly selective magic.>>
 
Especially since it conveniently *didn't* shrink Trot's bonnet (which she'd
put on the ground, p. 80). 

  Trot also regrets not having brought more berries, but "Cap'n Bill made
no reply to this statement, which showed he did not fully agree with the
little girl" (pp. 111-2). One of the lessons Cap'n Bill seems to embody in
this book is that what's done is done, and one might as well make the most
of what comes next. Button-Bright feels the same way, but (unlike the
sailor) isn't cautious about his choices of what to do in the first place. 
 
Dave Hulan wrote:
<<The full-page picture of Trot in Chapter 1 makes her look a rather sexy
16 or so to me.>>
 
I'm guessing you mean the art on p. 27. It seems to be of a piece with
Neill's other pinups on pp. 150 (Gloria), 167 (Glinda), 259 (Ozma, mostly),
261 (Dorothy), and 263 (Betsy). The Dorothy art also seems to have a little
girl's face on a grand ballerina's body. It's nice to see Neill stretch his
draftsmanship again, however; since early PATCHWORK GIRL many of his
sketches have been in his sketchy style.

  Dave writes: <<Trot seems to be dark-haired in the picture mentioned
above [but] blonde in most of the rest of the pictures in both this book
and her two pre-Oz appearances. (Since she's usually wearing a hat of some
sort it's not as clear as it is with Dorothy or Ozma.)>>

  When she's *inside* her hat in the color plate opposite p. 86, Trot is
honey blonde. That startles me each time I see it because I think of her as
brunette, starting with SEA FAIRIES. (My edition has no color plates, even
in grays like the BoW reissue, so I see only black ink in her hair.)

  Gloria's hair also seems to shift: light orange in the plate opposite p.
140 to dark ten pages later, and back, and back again. You've reported how
Neill left the coloring of the plates to the printer. Nonetheless, by
leaving the hair area open (in contrast to Pon's dark, filled-in mane),
Neill seems to be signalling for lighter locks. 
 
Some more comments on Neill's SCARECROW art:

  All color plates but that opposite p. 28 have borders around them, often
picking up a color in the drawing. Those frames are reflected in the round
scallopped broders around most chapter-opening drawings. 

  To show the spinning of the Orks' tails, Neill uses motion lines (pp.
250-1, e.g.). I don't recall him using this technique before, except maybe
in his cloud trails. Any counterexamples to that memory? Files's bullets,
maybe?

  For texture Neill often uses patterns of many thin, perfectly parallel
lines (p. 88, e.g.) or mottled grays (p. 89). I know how today's artists
would get such effects with rub-on overlays or software. But does anyone
know the technology Neill might have used?

  The art of p. 7 (dedication page) shows the Scarecrow roped to a tree, a
crow, and the Tin Woodman nearby--remind us of any LIL WIZARD story we
recently discussed?

  I can't figure out the illustration on p. 123. For decades I've assumed
that was Trot greeting Pon (based on his size and dark hair), but the boy
seems to be wearing Button-Bright's clothes. 

  I like the depiction of Krewl's guard on p. 138: teeny battleaxe, bell on
his cap. There's something rather Seussian about it. 

  The art on p. 204 wrongly depicts Cap'n Bill (as a human) and
Button-Bright among the counsel. 
  
J. L. Bell                             JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 22:44:59 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: SCARECROW OF OZ and the movies
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
I discovered that my message from yesterday evening didn't get through my
modem, so you're getting a double feature from me in this digest.
[Shuffling. Groans. General caterwauling.]
 
This was the first time I've read SCARECROW since seeing HIS MAJESTY, THE
SCARECROW OF OZ. I was impressed by the influence of the movie. As Dave
Hardenbrook points out, the melodramatic romance that Baum felt a need to
insert into his whole-family entertainments enters the Oz books here. [I'm
not counting Files and Ozga 'cause they just fall in love--no melodrama.
And I wasn't sure where, Dave, you saw Baum saying such romance had *no*
place in children's stories.] Another plot similarity: the Scarecrow
becomes his majesty, king of Jinxland, when we all know that seat's
supposed to go to Gloria.

  But the movies have also started to color Baum's depiction of magic. He
says of the Magic Picture, "it really was a 'moving picture' of life" (p.
258). And the way in which Gloria's heart thaws is straight out of HIS
MAJESTY: "Her heart became visible, at first frosted with ice but slowly
growing brighter and warmer until all the frost had disappeared and it was
beating as softly and regularly as any other heart. And now the cloud
dispersed and disclosed Gloria..." (p. 238). Very different from the
*stage* magic (curtains, costume change) at the end of LAND.

  Gloria's cardiac arrest is not as shown in the movie--a truly
heart-stopping vision that starts with the witch cupping her hand before
the princess's chest, and the heart appearing in it. [Eeeyew.] Another
detail that's different: each of the three witches assisting in the
open-chest operation has a different costume; one's dressed as a bat, I
recall. 

  However, the rest of the scene in Blinkie's eight-sided house is very
like the film. Indeed, we see silent-movie acting: "She [Blinkie] chuckled
with evil glee and rubbed her skinny hands together to show the delight
with which she greeted her victim" (p. 180). Only in pantomime does someone
intend "to show" emotion through gestures. 

  Thinking of HIS MAJESTY thus makes some sense of the action in that
chapter and the next. They're full of illogical comings and goings. For
instance, the king's soldier shoves Pon away from the door (p. 181), but
doesn't tell Krewl or Blinkie that he's nearby. Trot hides in plain sight,
then runs ways, then hides, then stumbles across Gloria, then stumbles
across the Scarecrow, then is stumbled across by Blinkie, and so on. That's
just what large parts of HIS MAJESTY and other Oz Film Company movies feel
like: they impart very little sense of how different locales relate
geographically, and characters seem to become invisible to others by
crouching in one corner of the screen. 

  One disappointing result of the screen's influence on Baum's SCARECROW
storytelling may be the action sequences. They seem flat to me. The
Scarecrow's battle with the court (p. 223) and the Ork's return (pp.
226-27) read like scenarios for what should be acted out. They don't have
dramatic pacing in themselves. Neill's frontispiece of the Scarecrow at the
stake--is that a tear, or a bead of sweat from his burlap brow?--is far
more scary than Baum's description. For this nightmare I bought the Books
of Wonder edition?
 
J. L. Bell                     JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 20:36:07 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: SCARECROW OF OZ: little Gloria, happy at last
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
The map of Oz printed in TIK-TOK shows Jinxland; we discussed two
Oz-as-literature explanations for that:

  1) Baum had already started SCARECROW, and wanted to show the part of Oz
which would figure so prominently in his next book.

  2) As Baum wrote SCARECROW, he looked at the map of Oz and chose the
previously undetailed Jinxland to be the setting of the plot he borrowed
from HIS MAJESTY, THE SCARECROW OF OZ.

  I now incline to the latter because TIK-TOK's map of the countries around
Oz doesn't show Mo. If Baum had written as far through SCARECROW as
Jinxland, he would probably have included Mo as well, cross-selling MAGICAL
MONARCH alongside his other fantasies. 

  Indeed, I envision the Scarecrow's mishap at the waterfall as being
inspired by the "Magic Waterfall" on the map between Jinxland and Glinda's
castle. Originally, I suspect, that feature was drawn just to add
cartographic verisimilitude, not in connection to a story. There's nothing
especially *magic* about the waterfall in SCARECROW, after all. 
 
Turning to Oz-as-history, I find it interesting that a Jinxlander tells
Trot, "It [Jinxland] is on the Map of Oz" (p. 125). If the country is cut
off from the rest of Quadlingland, how does that matron know? 

  "Birds carrying maps!" Oz fans immediately, if improbably, reply.

  Yet those same birds never seem to carry news the *other* way since
Glinda says, "Oz people know nothing of it [Jinxland], except what is
recorded here in my book" (pp. 171-2). 

  Glinda has presumably told Ozma about Jinxland because the fairy princess
knows it as "that unfortunate country, which is ruled by a wicked King" (p.
260). Which leads us to a mystery: why Ozma and Glinda haven't taken action
against Krewl before. 

  When she does act, Glinda tells the Scarecrow, "I am going to send you to
Jinxland, to protect Trot and Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill" (p. 173). Ozma
says of those Americans, "I fear they will be treated badly in Jinxland,
and if they meet with nay misfortunate there it will reflect on me, for
Jinxland is part of my domain" (p. 260). Conquering Krewl and Blinkie is
mostly the Scarecrow's idea for protecting his charges (pp. 205-6). If the
trio of strangers hadn't landed in Jinxland, Krewl could still be king
there.

  Glinda and Ozma took no action after King Kynd was overthrown over the
edge of the gulf, nor do they rescue Phearse from the bottom of the pond.
The presence of witches in Jinxland is surely not the reason; Glinda's
magic can easily dispatch Blinkie, even through a surrogate. Ozma normally
dislikes any news of strife in Oz (see GLINDA). So the two rulers seem to
have chosen *not* to interfere in Jinxland, contrary to their usual
practice. They haven't even told the Scarecrow about the place.

  Here's the best explanation I can come up with. After Phearse's coup
d'etat against Kynd, the Jinxlanders may have rallied to him (I don't
recall anyone speaking ill of Phearse, and some later want his son to be
king). Glinda chose to let them suffer the consequences of their
opportunism: a similar coup by one of Kynd's kin, followed by cruel rule. 

  The wise Scarecrow knows restoring the Kynd dynasty is not enough: "No
Queen with a frozen heart is fit to rule any country" (p. 231--though cf.
Tititi-Hoochoo). He insists that the Jinxlanders make their own choice of
rulers. Just like the cultists in LIFE OF BRIAN chorusing, "We are all
individuals!" the Jinxlanders first tell the Scarecrow they want *him* to
be king. They still want to follow the latest conqueror. Only after he
lectures them do the people understand their duty to choose a warm-hearted
ruler from among themselves.
 
Miscellaneous SCARECROW observations:

  Like Betsy, Trot knows about Oz, and especially about Dorothy, before she
arrives--presumably from Baum's histories (p. 129). 

  I like how the Scarecrow lectures Blinkie to be good, but she's too
preoccupied to listen (p. 240). Baum can thus present a moral without being
moralistic or unrealistic.

  A couple of interesting flaws on p. 257. First, Baum slips when he says
Dorothy "introduced to Ozma...the Hungry Tiger." Second, just as Baum keeps
his moralizing realistic, so he keeps Dorothy from being little Miss
Perfect:

      ...there were times when she was not so wise
      as she might have been, and other times 
      when she was obstinate and got herself into 
      trouble. 

But that's what we like about her!
 
J. L. Bell                            JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 11:20:53 -0500
From: Gordon Birrell <gbirrell at post.cis.smu.edu>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
J.L. Bell:
>  For texture Neill often uses patterns of many thin, perfectly parallel
>lines (p. 88, e.g.) or mottled grays (p. 89). I know how today's artists
>would get such effects with rub-on overlays or software. But does anyone
>know the technology Neill might have used?
 
The mottled effect is derived from an old aquatint technique originally used
in intaglio printing.  There are a number of variations on this technique,
which is still used by printmakers today, but typically a granular resin was
sprinkled on the copper plate and heated to make the resin adhere; then the
plate was etched in acid, which would eat into the plate in squiggly
patterns around the acid-resisting resin.  In the printing process the paper
was pressed onto the plate and the areas where the ink had collected in
those squiggly patterns would appear black, while the resin dots would
remain white.  With the advent of photography, this process could be
transferred to block printing, which was the technique usually used in book
illustrations in the first part of this century. I suspect that Neill didn't
actually do this work himself but simply indicated to the printer that he
wanted a half-tone area of aquatint-like effects in a certain location.  As
for the thin, perfectly parallel lines:  they were simply done with a ruler,
and Neill was a skilled enough draftsman that he probably took care of these
himself.
 
--Gordon Birrell

Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 11:30:31 -0700
From: Bob Spark <bspark at pacbell.net>
Subject: For the "Ozzie Digest", Ruminations on "The Scarecrow of OZ"
 
Howdy,
     I thoroughly enjoyed "Scarecrow".  The wit is delightful and the
Ork is one of the more sterling characters that I've encountered. 
Button Bright (one of my favorites) is in rare form.  I don't recall who
compared the book with the film "His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz", but
the idea is inspired.  I intend to watch the film shortly.  I bought the
set of four a while back, tried to watch "The Wizard of Oz" and gave it
up as a lost cause, but since then others have said that the rest of the
films are worth watching, so I shall.

     Onward.  I was puzzled through the book with the degree of
knowledge Trot displayed about Oz, since she had never been there, until
the following statement on page 283:

"While Trot had read of many of the people she had met, Cap'n Bill was
less familiar..." 

Do you think that Baum had realized the problem and was covering
himself?

     On page 64-65, Pessim remarks that one inch is a little more that a
millionth part of a mile.  More like 1/63360 of a mile.  Hardly "a
little bit".  Was Baum just sloppy, or was Pessim (who, I agree,
resembles one or more of our digesters more than a little) just
exaggerating for effect?

     The magical berries.  They seem to retain their size, even when
carried by people who are getting larger and smaller.  Something seems
wrong here.

     Button Bright was buried in the popcorn snow which was "crisp and
slightly warm, as well as nicely salted and buttered".  Trot, Cap'n
Bill, and the bumpy man all waded around in it extricating Button
Bright.  Seems to me that they would all end up fairly greasy.

     I don't like the way Cap'n Bill snared the birds.  True, they end
up profiting by the experience (as far as we know), but his methods were
cruel.

     When Cap'n Bill and Trot were trying to gain admittance to King
Krewl's castle and challenged by the soldier for their names and origin
Cap'n Bill says "You wouldn't know if we told you, seein' as we're
strangers in a strange land".  Where does that phrase come from?  I know
that Heinlein used it in his book of the same name.  Is it biblical?

     It seems to me that Gloria could have done better than Pon.  He's
always fleeing in alarm from something or other, and he equates his
claim to the crown to hers.  It definitely is not nearly as legitimate. 
I know that Button Bright and Trot said the same thing, but I just want
to join the crowd.

     Finally, when Glinda is being described, Baum says "Her cheeks are
the envy of peach-blows..."  What are peach-blows?
 
Bob Spark

Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 19:01:44 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-14 & 17-98
 
4/14:
J.L.:
Interesting analysis of the structure of _Scarecrow_. That's the sort of
English Lit discussion that I find interesting when someone else does it,
but that I never try to do myself.
 
>SCARECROW starts by contrasting the outlooks of Cap'n Bill and Trot. The
>sailor thinks there's a limit to what we can know; Trot disagrees.
 
I don't think that's an accurate characterization of Cap'n Bill's statement
that "the more we know, the more we find we don't know," or Trot's
apparently contrary opinion that everything we learn is so much gained.
Both are, after all, quite true, so there's no contradiction. They're just
two different ways of looking at the phenomenon of knowledge, and, as you
point out, characteristic of the respective views of one who's already
learned a great deal and one who's at the beginning of life and therefore
hasn't learned much yet.
 
>The one
>time we've seen Button-Bright really think things through--sneaking into
>the Boolooroo's treasure room in SKY ISLAND--he didn't achieve his goal.
 
Yes and no. He didn't find his magic umbrella, because it wasn't in the
treasure room, but he achieved his goal of getting into the treasure room
and having time to search it thoroughly. His failure to find the umbrella
was unrelated to his planning that got him into the room.
 
4/17:
J.L.:
Yes, I meant the picture of Trot on page 27 when I said she looked a rather
sexy 16 or so. Most of the others you characterize as "pin-ups" are head,
or head and shoulders, only, so you don't get a real feeling for
head-vs.-body size on them.
 
>  To show the spinning of the Orks' tails, Neill uses motion lines (pp.
>250-1, e.g.). I don't recall him using this technique before, except maybe
>in his cloud trails. Any counterexamples to that memory? Files's bullets,
>maybe?
 
There are quite a few examples in _Tik-Tok_ - besides Files's bullets,
there's the chapter-ender of Tik-Tok roller-skating, a chapter-header on
the next page of him falling down the Tube, Ann's arc as she came out of
the Tube and landed on Tubekins, and Polychrome escaping from Ruggedo, just
for a few. The only earlier example I can find quickly, though, is in
_Road_, where he used them both when the Scoodlers threw their heads at
Shaggy and when their heads are shown falling down into the gulf. But in PG
he definitely didn't use motion lines in a number of places where you'd
have thought he would, like when Scraps was jumping across the creek or
when the Scarecrow was riding a racing Sawhorse.
 
>  For texture Neill often uses patterns of many thin, perfectly parallel
>lines (p. 88, e.g.) or mottled grays (p. 89). I know how today's artists
>would get such effects with rub-on overlays or software. But does anyone
>know the technology Neill might have used?
 
I don't know for sure, but he might well have used shading plates; I used
to use them back in the old days of mimeography to produce such effects.
They'd be a little more complicated to use on paper, but maybe not that
much harder.
 
Of course, the shading plates I used were plastic, which probably wasn't as
available back then. But they could have been made of cast metal, I suppose.
 
I think the boy on page 123 is supposed to be Button-Bright. But it looks
to me as if Neill had a drawing of Button-Bright (or more likely just a
generic boy of the time) that he'd done for some other book and grafted
Trot onto it; the two characters are drawn in very different styles, and
the pose for the boy doesn't really fit anything Button-Bright did in the
book (or would have been likely to do).
 
Bob Spark:
I don't personally think that the dangers of second-hand smoke have been
proven all that conclusively. Some studies have shown an apparent negative
effect, others have shown little or no effect, and one or two have even
shown an apparent positive effect. In the worst case, exposure to
second-hand smoke doesn't seem to be as harmful as going to the beach.
(Especially when you figure in the number of people who drown as a
consequence of the latter, but I'm talking about the exposure to sunlight.)
It may be necessary to agree to disagree about this, but as far as I'm
concerned the current furor about preventing other people from smoking in
well-ventilated areas _is_ a matter of Political Correctness and not health.
 
Of course, smoking isn't good for the smoker, and young people should be
discouraged from taking up the habit. And tobacco smoke stinks, and nobody
should be subjected to it involuntarily. But, for instance, I find it
ludicrous to prohibit smoking in all bars, because nobody has to go into a
bar, and anyone who does has to be an adult in most jurisdictions. If
smoking is offensive enough to enough people, most bars will voluntarily
ban it in order to improve their business; if it isn't, then let those who
are sufficiently offended do their drinking elsewhere.
 
David Hulan

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 00:24:56 -0400
From: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz
Sender: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
 
John Bell:
Your point is well taken. That is, we ourselves don't actually see the
reports in the Great Book, and Glinda could have pretty easily guessed
their motives and simply summed everything up into one sentence.
 
One reason for Ozma and Glinda's unsual attitude regarding the situation in
Jinxland (from an Oz-as-literature POV) may be that Baum originally
intended for Jinxland to be its own separate country outside of the Land of
Oz. I read somewhere that this is what he wanted to do originally. Then,
desiring a more "Ozzy" book, he moved Jinxland inside the borders and
changed a few things. Either he didn't have time to rework the whole
background or he didn't want to take the effort to alter minor background
material.
 
He left some clues in the story that tell us this, though. In chapter 20,
The Scarecrow twice mentions that he would like the Ork to carry them into
Oz. Trot informs Button-Brigh that "we're going to the Land of Oz". Later,
after the Orks carry them, teh Scarecrow says "Here we are, safe in the
Land of Oz. ... You are now within the borders of the most glorious
fairyland in all the world." All of these imply that Kinxland is not
actually in Oz, although it actually is, in the final version.
 
Bob:
The berries may not affect themselves, not being metamagic or feedback
magic. Of course, the parts of the berries that they swallowed must have
shrunk...
 
Tyler Jones

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 15:01:23 -0400
From: Michael Turniansky <turnip at mail.bcpl.lib.md.us>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-17-98
 
    "Stranger in a Strange Land" is indeed Biblical.  Exodus 1:22 "And she
[Tziporah] game birth to a son, and he [Moses] called his came Gershom (lit.
"stranger there") for he said, "I have been a stranger in a strange (or
"heathen")
land"
 
      It's a commonly accepted convention that shrink, growth, and invisibilty
spells extend to items touched/worn (sometimes it extends to other people
touched,
but not always, it depends on your literary source).   Presumably, the spell
generates some type of "aura"
 
                       --Mike "Shaggy Man" Turniansky

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 15:50:45 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz Fiesta
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Thanks to Gordon Birrell and Dave Hulan for thoughts on how Neill achieved
his shading effects with his day's printing technology. 

  And thanks also to Dave for pointing out motion lines in Neill's other
work, especially in TIK-TOK. Interesting point that no similar lines appear
in PATCHWORK GIRL. I'm seeing three distinct styles in Neill's work for
Baum: elaborately detailed pen-and-ink drawings (DOROTHY & WIZARD, ROAD,
EMERALD CITY, SKY ISLAND); less detailed but lively drawings with thick
outlines around characters (LAND, OZMA, PATCHWORK GIRL, JOHN DOUGH); and
the thin-lined, spare, almost outlined figures showing up in late PATCHWORK
GIRL on. Of course, the styles can overlap in books.
 
Bob Spark wrote:
<<I don't like the way Cap'n Bill snared the birds.  True, they end up
profiting by the experience (as far as we know), but his methods were
cruel.>>
 
Then you must *really* dislike the way he caught little crabs, speared them
on hooks, used them to catch a fish, and then sliced the fish up for
cooking! 

  There's no hint those crabs and fish could talk, but the Ork could talk
in the same location. And Cap'n Bill didn't wait to hear the birds speak
before he snared them. The Mountain Ear, who's very in tune with the
natural world, was upset, too. Baum seems to show exploiting animals as a
necessity, at least for Americans. 
 
Bob Spark asked:
<<when Glinda is being described, Baum says "Her cheeks are the envy of
peach-blows..."  What are peach-blows?>>
 
"Blow" is an archaic word for "flower" or "blossom," at least in verb form.
 
About Button-Bright's raid on the Boolooroo's treasure room in SKY ISLAND,
Dave Hulan wrote:
<<He didn't find his magic umbrella, because it wasn't in the treasure
room, but he achieved his goal of getting into the treasure room and having
time to search it thoroughly. His failure to find the umbrella was
unrelated to his planning that got him into the room.>>
 
I doubt that accomplishing his intermediate goal satisfied Button-Bright;
as I recall, he's as disappointed as he ever gets when he can't find his
umbrella.

  Interestingly, however, Button-Bright did come away with the book that
proved crucial to showing the Boolooroo was past his term limit. 

  Both those outcomes underscore my point about the low value Button-Bright
assigns to thinking ahead in SCARECROW: what he wanted he didn't get, what
he got he simply stumbled across, so what's the use of worrying?

  It is during this episode in SKY ISLAND that Button-Bright tells a lie
*despite having bathed in the Truth Pond*. Can anyone point to [at least]
one other time he tells an untruth after that veracious plunge?
 
Bob Spark wrote:
<<Cap'n Bill says "You wouldn't know if we told you, seein' as we're
strangers in a strange land".  Where does that phrase come from?>>
 
The King James version of Exodus 2:21-2: "And Moses was content to dwell
[in Midian] with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she
bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a
stranger in a strange land." 

  The Oxford Annotated Bible translates the line as "I have been a
sojourner in a foreign land." The Hebrew for sojourner is "ger."

  Also in Sophocles's OEDIPUS AT COLONUS, the chorus sings, "Stranger on
foreign soil" or "Stranger in a strange country" (line 184), depending on
translation. 

  So many lackluster versions of the phrase we know as "stranger in a
strange land" show how few phrase-makers can beat those Tudor bible
translators!
 
Finally, I agree with Dave Hulan about the scientific studies of
second-hand smoke. It's irritating to eyes and nose, but long-term cancer
or coronary damage shows up only in people with nearly constant exposure:
children growing up in the homes of heavy smokers, flight attendants
working in recirculated smoky air. Nevertheless, we don't need epidemiology
to know that setting fire to something without caring about nearby people's
comfort is rude. Today some folks want to gussy up that behavior by calling
it "politically incorrect," but it's still just plain rude.

  One of the places Cap'n Bill smokes his pipe is in the underground tunnel
(p. 51). Fortunately, he's fairly near an opening to fresh air. 
 
J. L. Bell                           JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 14:55:40 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
J.L. Bell: Interesting comments on the art.  (And thanks, Gordon 
Birrell, for the discussion of the techniques available to Neill for 
creating the greys in his drawings.)  Also interesting comments on 
movie vs. stage influence.

   On Ozma's and Glinda's failure to take any action against the 
wicked king of Jinxland until Trot and Cap'n Bill showed up.  Wouldn't 
the original coups, of Phearse against Kynd, and Krewl against 
Phearse, have taken place before Ozma became queen?  (Possibly 
even before Glinda got her Great Book of Records, although in any 
case the Book seems to be so brief in its summaries as to make it 
easy to misunderstand information without a lot of additional 
context.)  If they didn't know about the coups until too late to stop 
Krewl from becoming king, they might have been reluctant to take 
action to oust him unless they knew for sure that the Jinxlanders 
wanted him ousted (some obviously did, but maybe not enough who 
wanted it enough to make it clear that a "benevolent conquest" would 
be welcomed), and knew for sure that there was a ruler or ruling 
group acceptable to the Jinxlanders who would do a better job than 
Krewl.  Incidentally, considering that Gloria is the daughter of Kynd 
and the niece of Krewl, Krewl must be the brother or brother-in-law of 
Kynd, and as the brother (just maybe even as the brother-in-law) has 
a pretty fair hereditary claim to the throne, and that might be 
considered a factor in the Jinxlanders' reluctance to rise against him 
and in Ozma's reluctance to invade.  (Nice analysis, by the way, of 
the Scarecrow's wisdom in refusing the throne himself and in insisting 
that a Jinxlander, and not one with a frozen heart, would be best for 
Jinxland.)
 
Bob Spark: Peach-blows are peach-blossoms.  (Both blossom and 
blow in this sense are from the OE blowan -- which is akin to ON 
blom, which gave us bloom -- and the OE blowan is apparently a 
distinct root from the OE blawan, which led to blow in the more usual 
modern senses.)  Yes, "stranger in a strange land" is Biblical, 
although I don't recall if the context is Exodus, Ruth, or something 
else.  (You'd think I'd at least be sure if it's Ruth or not, but I'm not.)

   I haven't followed the studies on secondhand smoke and things 
like cancer and heart attacks, but I feel reasonably sure from the way 
my throat reacts to being around smoke when I have any kind of sore 
throat that secondhand smoke aggravates respiratory ailments.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 10:04:20 -0500
From: Gordon Birrell <gbirrell at post.cis.smu.edu>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
Bob Spark:
The quotation "stranger in a strange land" is from the Bible (Exodus 2:22).
The Revised Standard Version translates the phrase as "a sojourner in a
foreign land."  Further evidence, if anyone needed it, of the poetic
superiority of the King James version.
 
>     Finally, when Glinda is being described, Baum says "Her cheeks are
>the envy of peach-blows..."  What are peach-blows?
 
According to the OED, "blow" is an old word for "blossom" or "blooming," and
"peach-blow" is specifically a pinkish purple color.  It can also mean a
potato of that color, but I doubt that Baum had that meaning in mind.
 
J.L. Bell:
I enjoyed your very insightful comments on the connections between
_Scarecrow of Oz_ and _His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz_.  It's interesting,
too, that Pon cuts a considerably more manly figure in the movie than in the
book.  The same Art-Nouveau impulse that moved Neill to eroticize the young
female images (prime example:  that positively Beardsleyan picture of Ozma's
head on the spine of _Ozma_, but also the portrait from _Glinda_ that Dave
relishes) seems to have been behind the rather effeminate conception of the
gardener's boy, who could have stepped right out of one of the paintings of
Puvis de Chavannes.  Pon's smock reminds me, too, of the loose-fitting
garments that were so favored by the Naturist movement at the turn of the
century.
 
I have a copy of _His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz_ with James Doyle's
score, which was given to me by a mutual friend of ours.  This is really a
superb score which subtly underscores the action at all times without ever
being intrusive. Is there any possibility, James, that the video will be
available commercially in the near future?
 
--Gordon Birrell

Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 15:43:11 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-20-98
 
J.L.:
>  A couple of interesting flaws on p. 257. First, Baum slips when he says
>Dorothy "introduced to Ozma...the Hungry Tiger."
 
This, however, is not the first occurrence of a similar flaw; in _Tik-Tok_
(p. 267) Ozma says that Dorothy was the HT's "first friend and companion."
This could be rationalized if the HT is the same tiger who appealed to the
CL to kill the giant spider in _Wizard_, but in that case why don't he and
Dorothy recall this when they meet in _Ozma_? (Maybe it was only later that
they got around to comparing notes and realize that they'd met earlier? But
this doesn't explain the clear error in _Scarecrow_, since whether Dorothy
and the HT had met in _Wiz_ or not, Dot certainly didn't introduce him to
Ozma.)
 
Bob Spark:
>     I don't like the way Cap'n Bill snared the birds.  True, they end
>up profiting by the experience (as far as we know), but his methods were
>cruel.
 
Animal rights wasn't as well-developed in 1915 as they are now. Sure, they
were better developed than, say, Negro rights (cf. _Black Beauty_, etc.),
but snaring birds wasn't generally frowned upon, especially if they were
later released.
 
>     When Cap'n Bill and Trot were trying to gain admittance to King
>Krewl's castle and challenged by the soldier for their names and origin
>Cap'n Bill says "You wouldn't know if we told you, seein' as we're
>strangers in a strange land".  Where does that phrase come from?  I know
>that Heinlein used it in his book of the same name.  Is it biblical?
 
It's from Exodus 2:22; Moses named his first son Gershom, "For I have been
a stranger in a strange land." I know "ger" is Hebrew for "stranger" (as
well as for "proselyte"); I'm not sure what the "-shom" means.
 
>     Finally, when Glinda is being described, Baum says "Her cheeks are
>the envy of peach-blows..."  What are peach-blows?
 
I think "blow" was a variant of "blossom," but I'm not sure of that.
 
David Hulan

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 09:34:09 +0300 (IDT)
From: Tzvi Harris <ltharris at internet-zahav.net>
Subject: Digest Entry
 
Hello to all.
 
Scarecrow:
 
In my edition (Del Rey) I have an illustration of the three adventurers and
the Scarecrow flying on Orks (pages 228-229).  In  the illustration Cap'n
Bill has two legs.  On the cover of the book Michael Herring prepared a
similar illustration, but corrected the error. (I'm sorry if somebody
pointed this out already).
 
When travelling to the EC at the end of the story, the travellers call out
"Gid-dap!" to the Sawhorse.  Don't they usually treat the Sawhorse more
respectfully and speak to him?  I checked _Land_, and found that when
created the Sawhorse was taught to move slowly when told "get-up", to move
quickly when told "trot" and stop when told "whoa."
Later in _Land_ tip explains to the Sawhorse what he is to do, and the
sawhorse obeys.  I seem to recall that in other instances Ozma and the
others speak to the Sawhorse and explain where they would like him to go.
Although it might just be a signal to start moving, it appears rather
impolite to me to speak to the Sawhorse in such a manner (Gid-dap).
Tzvi
Talmon
Israel

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 23:11:01 -0700
From: Nathan Mulac DeHoff <vovat at geocities.com>
Subject: Ozzy Digest
 
Shaggy:
>It's a commonly accepted convention that shrink, growth, and invisibilty
>spells extend to items touched/worn (sometimes it extends to other people
>touched,
>but not always, it depends on your literary source).
 
For a counterexample to this, check out Shanower's _Giant Garden_, in
which a magic potion makes Dorothy grow, but not her clothes.
--
Nathan Mulac DeHoff
DinnerBell at tmbg.org or vovat at geocities.com

"All I know could be defaced by the facts in the life of Chess Piece Face."

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 23:26:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ozmama <Ozmama at aol.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-21-98
 
If I'm repeating anything that was said in the 4-14 _Digest_, I apologize.  I
inadvertently deleted it before I downloaded it, so I haven't read that one.
 
There are a coupla things about the illos in _Scarecrow_ that I've noticed and
query. One is the picture of Googly-Goo on p. 143 .  Look closely at his ruff.
Between his chin and left jowl (slightly right of center, as we face it) there are 
initials!  J R ?????? Maybe JRS?  What do you think they are?  And who do 
they refer to?  They do not look like JRN, which is what I kept trying to make
'em look like.
 
The other thing has always bugged me.  There's a picture of the Scarecrow 
that I don't think was drawn for this book.  P.212.  No stippling, which Neill
used in virtually all of the other large illos of the character for this book, and 
there's a checked patch on his left knee which I don't find in any of the
other pictures.  It looks like Neill just threw it in as filler to eliminate negative space,
since it was the end of the chapter.  That same illo, btw, showed up back in 
the '60s and '70s in St. Louis' Soulard Market, an open-air farmers' market.  
Soulard used it as part of their logo.  I don't know if they got it from this book 
or from some other Neill source...maybe the source for which he did this 
particular picture?  I wish I knew.  It's one of those MYSTERIES I've carried 
around since childhood, through young adulthood, and straight into--ahem--
middle age.
 
As I reread the book, I'm struck by how much more tightly written it is than 
many other Oz books.  Sure, there are flaws, but this is a well-plotted book, 
taking the characters carefully from the "real" world very gradually into one of
magic.  Other than the mermaids' arms around Trot, the ork is the first piece of 
magic they encounter, and he's almost "natural."  They all have food worries, 
which is rare in an Oz book, since it's rare to have so much action outside of
a clearly magical fairyland.  Pessim's Island is transitional to magic.  They eat
melons, but find and utilize magic berries. Mo has normal food used in odd 
and/or magical ways. Molasses candy:odd.  Popcorn and lemonade: magical.  
Even Jinxland food is quite normal. (I've always loved the image of Button Bright 
and the turkey leg!)  No lacasa or anything exotic...unless I missed something.
Magic food shows up (like the ice cream that surprises Dorothy) in a magic 
house inside of "mainland" Oz.   The next day Trot is hungry, and a table pops
up, magically loaded with fruits and nuts and cakes, etc. It's almost like
Baum's hitting us over the head with "It's magic, folks!  It's the real Oz!" He follows up 
with an dazzling scene in the bejeweled underwaterfall cave, which totally awed 
me as a kid...knocked my metaphorical socks right off my metaphorical feet!
 
Question: How does Ozma know about the cruel King of Jinxland when she's 
looking in the Magic Picture?  She and Dorothy were just killing time when they
"happened" to see Button Bright.  Ozma knows what an ork is and seems to know
about Jinxland and to disapprove of their king...which brings us right back to the 
problem of why she's allowed such a king to rule in her kingdom in the first place.
Did Baum goof?  Was there supposed to have been some mention of 
communication between Glinda and Ozma about Jinxland?  Was there such a 
scene and I just missed it in my hasty rereading?  Sorry for such a long post.
--Robin

Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 21:41:56 +0000
From: Christopher Straughn <christopher99 at mail.geocities.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-23-98
Comments: Authenticated sender is <christopher99 at mail.geocities.com>
 
> The other thing has always bugged me.  There's a picture of the Scarecrow 
> that I don't think was drawn for this book.  P.212.  No stippling, which Neill
> used in virtually all of the other large illos of the character for this book,
> and 
> there's a checked patch on his left knee which I don't find in any of the
> other pictures.  It looks like Neill just threw it in as filler to eliminate
> negative space,
> since it was the end of the chapter.
 
On the picture where the Scarecrow is being hit over the head by King 
Krewl, there's a patch on his knee as well, but it's on the other 
knee.  The page in my book is 203, but I have the paperback DelRey 
edition.

Also, in the circle above the title "The Ork Rescues Button-Bright" 
there is a sort doggish sort of animal wearing a bonnet.  Anyone have 
any idea what the heck it is?  Sometimes Neill pictures have so many 
lines that it's difficult to tell if you're looking at a picture at 
the right angle.  I always had that trouble with one of the pictures 
of a fox from Foxville.

Chris Straughn
 
Bonan Tagon!

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 13:35:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Orange5193 <Orange5193 at aol.com>
Subject: OzzyDigest
 
I'd have to agree with some of the comments about Neill's illustrations; they
are often inconsistent in style.  It's interesting to see him evolve at the
beginning, trying not to vary too much from Denslow's initial presentation and
gradually over the course of the books defining the characters in a new way.  
 
Scarecrow of Oz is, like Tik-Tok, both fascinating and problematic, since both
were essentially adaptations of stage or film works.   Baum's attempt to
define Jinxland's place in the Oz universe definitely run into difficulties,
but Oz, like the world Baum wrote from is often an inconsistent place.  I put
the Jinxland question in the same file as the "no one can die in Oz"/ "Tin
Woodman killing all those animals" 
question.
 
Thank you very much, Gordon Birrell, for your generous praise of my
'Scarecrow" score.   I would eventually like to make it available commercially
(I'm shopping the rough dub around, believe me), but would prefer to synch the
score with a video in proper aspect ratio (ie without cutting off all those
heads!!).  I'm not averse to sharing the vid with people on the list in the
meantime and will try to work out a way to do so.
 
James Doyle

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 22:05:20 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz on stage and page
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
On SCARECROW Tzvi Harris wrote:
<<In my edition (Del Rey) I have an illustration of the three adventurers
and the Scarecrow flying on Orks (pages 228-229).  In  the illustration
Cap'n Bill has two legs.>>
 
This is pp. 250-1 in the original pagination, for anyone who wants to see
that in making this observation Tzvi indeed has a leg to stand on. 
 
Gordon Birrell wrote:
<<Pon cuts a considerably more manly figure in the movie than in the
book.  The same Art-Nouveau impulse that moved Neill to eroticize the young
female images...seems to have been behind the rather effeminate conception
of the gardener's boy, who could have stepped right out of one of the
paintings of Puvis de Chavannes.  Pon's smock reminds me, too, of the
loose-fitting garments that were so favored by the Naturist movement at the
turn of the century.>>
 
Good connections. A hermaphroditic Pon isn't all Neill's doing, however.
Baum describes Pon's smock and sandals, and makes clear that he has nothing
to recommend him as a royal consort except the unfathomable fact that
Gloria loves him. Ironically, the characterization Baum came up with for
kids is more nuanced than the romantic hero he proffered to a movie
audience with a higher average age. 

  Pon and Gloria are Baum's last pair of lovers, are they not? In later
books I recall grudging marriages and some repressed sexual tension, but no
real romance. Not that what's here is serious, either.
 
On the question of why Glinda and Ozma took no action against Krewl until
Trot and her friends arrived in Jinxland, Tyler Jones suggested:
<<Baum [perhaps] originally intended for Jinxland to be its own separate
country outside of the Land of Oz. I read somewhere that this is what he
wanted to do originally. Then, desiring a more "Ozzy" book, he moved
Jinxland inside the borders and changed a few things.>>

  And Ruth Berman posited: <<Krewl must be the brother or brother-in-law of
Kynd, and as the brother (just maybe even as the brother-in-law) has a
pretty fair hereditary claim to the throne, and that might be considered a
factor in the Jinxlanders' reluctance to rise against him and in Ozma's
reluctance to invade.>>
 
There's definitely confusion in SCARECROW about what "the land of Oz"
refers to (as in WIZARD). More so than the other places Trot has visited,
Jinxland is a borderland. From outside Oz, it's definitely part of that
country. From inside, it's not fully. The Scarecrow says, "Then Jinxland is
really a part of the Land of Oz" (p. 171), though he later implies the
opposite, as Tyler wrote. But we say the same thing about our own
countries: is Puerto Rico part of the U.S.? Yes and no.

  When Ozma and Glinda discuss Jinxland, however, Baum makes clear that
they both think of that country as part of Oz. Baum could have written that
they'd only just learned about Krewl, or didn't feel responsible for his
rule because of Jinxland's isolation; he writes the opposite. That's what
intrigues me.

  I'm intrigued by the notion that Krewl might have been Kynd's brother,
and thus probably his nearest male relative. The ascension of Gloria might
thus represent a significant shift in the inheritance of the Jinxland
crown, allowing either sex to rule.
 
  In several books (especially LAND, SKY ISLAND, TIK-TOK), Baum presents
alternative systems for choosing rulers. Many of those systems have some
democratic element--the subjects must approve the choice, or the queen must
not be too rich, or the Boolooroo must step down [way down!] after some
years. But every system seems to come out with a monarch, and usually a
supreme one. It's as if Baum were introducing young readers to different
governance possibilities without getting into the complexity of full
democracy. 
 
Tzvi Harris complained:
<<When travelling to the EC at the end of the story, the travellers call
out "Gid-dap!" to the Sawhorse.  Don't they usually treat the Sawhorse more
politely?>>
 
The Sawhorse is rather proud of being a horse, of course, so perhaps he/it
doesn't mind being addressed as one. After all, no one else in Baum's Oz
has the honor of being told, "Gid-dap!" to mean, "We're ready to go now." 
 
In a recent digest I quoted the Ork saying, "It is a fine moonlight night."
I was struck that Baum didn't write "moonlit," but in running UNCLE TOM'S
CABIN through my car stereo last week I heard the same phrase. "Moonlight"
must have been the preferred adjective of the 19th century, and it does
have parallels today--we don't speak of "daylit hours" or "The Twilit
Zone."

  In UNCLE TOM I followed the character of Topsy, recalling Rich
Morrissey's hypothesis months ago: <<maybe Topsy in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
(comic relief in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, reportedly with a greatly
expanded role in most of the immensely popular stage adaptations) may have
been an inspiration for Scraps? With her scraggly hair, her patched
clothing, her penchant for hyperactivity, and her fondness for the pastimes
of a traditional tomboy like climbing trees and turning cartwheels, Topsy
reminds me a great deal of the Patchwork Girl. If memory serves, Topsy
*was* about the age of the American girls in Oz in the novel (around 9-11
during the course of her involvement in Uncle Tom's life), but onstage I
think she was often played by older actresses. (Or older actors? I've heard
at least some presentations cast a male in that very active role, much as
Scraps was played by a male...in the Baum movie.)>>

  Though in tomboyish action and braids Topsy is like Scraps, in speech
she's more like young Button-Bright: "Don't know." (The difference being
that Topsy really does know.) But I bet I'm looking at the wrong Topsy. We
have the text of the original UNCLE TOM, but we don't have the experience
of the late-19th/early-20th stage versions of the story, which were much
more farcical. Those shaped the public's view of Topsy, Uncle Tom, and
other characters as much as, if not more than, the book. 

  In the same way, we're at a loss in really understanding how Baum and
Thompson's contemporaries viewed Oz because we can't see the stage show
that toured the country for years. Pastoria, a Wizard capable of kidnapping
a baby--those first appeared on stage. What else did? What was different
enough to surprise readers who came to the books from the play? With the
MGM movie, at least we can watch it ourselves and know the source of
people's misconceptions!
 
J. L. Bell                               JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 23:23:01 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz addendum
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Of SCARECROW illustrations, Robin Olderman wrote:
<<the picture of Googly-Goo on p. 143 .  Look closely at his ruff. Between
his chin and left jowl...there are initials!  J R ?????? Maybe JRS?  What
do you think they are?  And who do they refer to?  They do not look like
JRN, which is what I kept trying to make 'em look like.>>
 
I think it is supposed to be JRN, but the N is twice as wide as the other
letters and melds so easily with the ruff's loops that its opening frill
looks like an S. I certainly can't think what else John R. Neill would draw
there.
 
Robin Olderman wrote:
<<There's a picture of the Scarecrow that I don't think was drawn for this
book.  P.212.  No stippling, which Neill used in virtually all of the other
large illos of the character for this book>>
 
I'd actually thumbed through PATCHWORK GIRL to see if this drawing was
reprinted from that book because it's so much in Neill's earlier style.
Perhaps Neill drew it for PATCHWORK GIRL, but couldn't fit it into the
right place [which would be? No knee patches appear in that book, either].
Perhaps it was one of his first drawings for SCARECROW, before he chose a
different (less time-consuming?) style. In any event, Neill surely knew he
could always use another Scarecrow drawing. 
 
Chris Straughn wrote:
<<in the circle above the title "The Ork Rescues Button-Bright" there is a
sort doggish sort of animal wearing a bonnet.  Anyone have any idea what
the heck it is?>>
 
The prairie-dog on p. 214 (four paragraphs into this chapter).
 
I note that on this page Button-Bright says the people of Jinxland aren't
to blame for their king--which goes against my hypothesis of why Glinda and
Ozma let Krewl rule. But, to be frank, if Button-Bright's answer to a
sophisticated philosophical question is no, the answer seems more likely to
be yes! 
 
Before leaving SCARECROW art, I'll mention my favorite incidental drawing
in the book, on the half-title page: the Woozy trying to ride the Sawhorse.
 
Scott Hutchins wrote:
<<It seems to me Larry Semon's _Wizard of Oz_ (no "the") is a remake of
_His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz_, as it, too, deals with Kynd and
Krewl.>>
 
Frank J. Baum was involved in both movies, I believe--in the earlier as his
father's right-hand man at the Oz Film Studio, and in the latter as
co-scenarist. He may have been behind the similarity.
 
J. L. Bell                             JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 10:20:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: JOdel <JOdel at aol.com>
Subject: Re:  Ozzy Digest, 04-24-98
 
I will have to say that Scarecrow was one of my favorites as I was growing up.
I don't think it was one of the ones that we owned, but I had the good fortune
to grow up in a community where the librarians had no snotty attitude towards
the Oz series and our town library had most of them. 
 
This book seems to have a stronger plot than some of the others, even though
it is clearly made up of two separate stories. Trot and the Captain's
adventures being one, and the pure fairytale of Jinxland being the second. I
was always aware that these were two stories crammed together, but both were
well enough handled that I had no objection to getting two tales for the price
of one. (Unlike Tik-Tok which seems also to be more than one story, and all of
them working at cross purposes.) 
 
I've always liked Trot. She is a perfectly viable alternate to Dorothy. Less
independent, perhaps, but also more exuberant. Dorothy was always presented as
finding life a serious business, while Trot, at least before settling in Oz
permanently, seemed to have a stronger sense of fun. 
 
As to some of the points raised so far. First; the case for allowing Krewel's
tyrany to stand. Ozma does not interfere much with the local customs of the
little kingdoms under her reign. By this time she has learned better. No one
in Jinxland has made a concerted effort to ask her for aid against their king,
even though she has some reason to believe that no one likes him. That this
may be due to Jinxland's isolation from the rest of Oz she probably
recognizes, but she is hardly going to send in a messenger to take a survey. I
would also be willing to bet that Krewl WAS Kynd's brother -- or possibly
step-brother (that sort of contrast between siblings tends to be fairly
standard in fairytales), thereby giving him a reasonably valid claim to the
throne. 
 
As to mounting an intercession on Gloria's behalf, well, how is Ozma to know
whether the Jinxlanders would accept Gloria as their Queen? The Roses, in
their kingdom, flatly refused to have a female ruler, and I doubt that they
were an isolated instance. No, Ozma can hardly make a case for marching into
Jinxland to put things right on spec, even if Jinxland were more easily
marched into. 
 
The fact that there is a wicked witch practicing in Jinxland is harder to
overlook. The only way that I can see Ozma condoning this would be that Ozma
and others were under the impression that Blinky was a fraud, posing as a
witch, but actually achieving the appearance of performing magic through
trickery much as the wizard had during his humbug period. And it seems clear
from the text that Blinky is at least to some degree a con artist.
Unfortunately, she is not ONLY a con artist, and Glinda finally decides to
shut her down. The mounting pressure to marry Gloria off to Googly-Goo (*sigh*
I ask you, REALLY! Nobody is named Googly-Goo. I couldn't swallow that when I
was eight!) and the measures that Krewl is prepared to take toward that end
would probably have brought matters to a head eventually. The sudden
appearance of a trio of inocent bystanders only hastened the issue.
 
I will have to say that the methods Glinda takes to counteract the threat to
the travelers, neutralize Blinky and depose Krewl could have been better
organized from the point of an onlooker. The whole expedition appears to leave
altogether too much to chance. But as a child I didn't question any of it and
it wasn't written for me as an adult to pick holes in, after all. 
 
There was more, but I have lost track of it. Maybe later.
 
As to the hatchings and stipplings which Neill usedfor shading; at the time
that Neill was working, it would have been most likely that he shaded his
drawings by hand, using pen and ink. This is certainly not outside the realm
of possibility, and I have always assumed that it was the case. 

Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 23:23:58 -0400
From: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz
Sender: Tyler Jones <tnj at compuserve.com>
 
Robin:
That scene may have been part of the original idea. That is, Ozma
recognized King Krewl of Jinxland, but could not do anything since Jinxland
was not part of Oz. Of course, that is only an Oz-as-literature
explanation. I can't think of an Oz-as-history explanation, unless Ozma
felt that she could not move against such an isolated king with the Belt at
such a low power.
 
Of course, she did just that later on in _Glinda_, but the Jinxland
experience may have shaken her up and put her in a more responsible mode.
 
Hmmm, Dave hardenbrooke came to much the same conclusion. Great minds...
:-)
 
Tyler Jones

Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 10:24:06 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
Robin Olderman: One of the articles on Neill in the "Bugle" in past 
years (Michael Patrick Hearn's, "Illustrator's Illustrator") discussed the 
initials on that portrait of Lord Googlygoo.  They're for Neil's friend 
Fred Gruger, and the name of Gruger's daughter Dorothy Gray 
Gruger is worked into the portrait of the princess with the strings of 
willow-like leafage hanging down behind her.  MPH suggests that 
possibly the two of them modeled for those two characters.
 
J.L. Bell and Tsvi Harris: "Gid-dap" does sound like a rather abrupt 
way to address the Sawhorse.  On the other hand, in "Land," the 
Sawhorse is told that people will say "Get up" when they want him to 
start going, and "Gid-dap" is just another pronunciation of "Get up."
 
Joyce Odell: Maybe Lord Googly-Goo got his name for his looks and 
is too vain to realize that it isn't a compliment?
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 19:13:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ozmama <Ozmama at aol.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 04-29-98
 
 
<< Robin:
 That scene may have been part of the original idea. That is, Ozma
 recognized King Krewl of Jinxland, but could not do anything since Jinxland
 was not part of Oz. Of course, that is only an Oz-as-literature
 explanation. >>Tyler
 
The more I read, the more I agree that Baum tried to edit a Trot & Cap'n Bill
story into an Oz series tale.  He probably had part of the story already written
when it became clear that there would be no continuation of that series and
resurrected the MS when it came time to write the 1914 (is that the year?  I 
stink at dates.) book.   The melding is simply not quite seamless.
----
Ruth: Thanks for the illo info about ruff stuff.   
 
--Robin

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 15:05:32 -0600 (CST)
From: Ruth Berman <berma005 at maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: ozzy digest
 
I'm in the process of re-reading Phyllis Karr's "The Gardener's Boy of Oz," 
as another way of viewing "Scarecrow."  Her solution to how the Jinxlanders 
knew that they were part of Oz is that the previous queen had been 
interested in geography and had interviewed passing birds and in the 
process had charted a map of Oz, including Jinxland.  Her solution to why 
Glinda and Ozma hadn't done anything about Jinxland's political problems 
until Trot & Co came by is that they were both taken up with dealing with 
matters nearer to home, and hadn't set themselves to dealing with areas 
further away.
 
Ruth Berman

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 22:00:09 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: Oz muzzleloading
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Thanks, Ruth Berman, for identifying the initials Neill hid in two of his
SCARECROW drawings. 
 
Thanks , Robin Olderman, for pointing out how Trot and Cap'n Bill
experience more and more magic over the course of SCARECROW. Thus, they
seem to travel:
 * from solitude to the center of a bustling city
 * from near starvation to where dinners grow from the ground
 * from an empty cave to a country full of magic
And all, indeed, more carefully plotted than most of Baum's "travel
novels."
 
In SCARECROW Baum seems to be in the middle of a well period--not that his
health was good, but he kept putting his characters in wells:
 * PATCHWORK GIRL: Ojo and party tumble to the lip of the dark well in Jaq Horner's mine
 * TIK-TOK: Shaggy pulls Tik-Tok from a well.
 * SCARECROW: Trot, Cap'n Bill, and the Ork find themselves "at the bottom of a deep, rocky well" (p. 53).
 * RINKITINK: Rinkitink hides in a well.
 * LOST PRINCESS: Button-Bright (and Ozma) are found at the bottom of a "small but deep hole." 
The specter of Stephen Dowling Bots seems to hang over these books. 
 
J. L. Bell                  JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 16:32:49 -0500
From: David Hulan <davidhulan at ntsource.com>
Subject: Re: Ozzy Digest, 05-01-98
 
4/22:
J.L.:
Presumably Cap'n Bill knew that Trot didn't object to his smoking his pipe,
since they'd known each other all her life. To be polite, he should have
asked the Ork if he minded if he smoked. But I doubt if that would make it
any more acceptable in a modern book, which is why I attribute it to
political correctness and not courtesy.
 
Ruth:
Smoke is certainly irritating to many people, and courtesy would require
ascertaining that it wouldn't bother others who are present. See my
comments to J.L.
 
4/26:
J.L.:
>  Pon and Gloria are Baum's last pair of lovers, are they not? In later
>books I recall grudging marriages and some repressed sexual tension, but no
>real romance. Not that what's here is serious, either.
 
Unless I'm forgetting something, Pon and Gloria are Baum's _only_ pair of
lovers whose on-stage love has anything to do with the plot of the book.
The past love between Nimmie Amee and first Nick Chopper and then Captain
Fyter is important to the plot of _Tin Woodman_, but by the time they meet
again in that book none of them feels love any more.
 
Joyce:
>I've always liked Trot. She is a perfectly viable alternate to Dorothy. Less
>independent, perhaps, but also more exuberant. Dorothy was always
presented as
>finding life a serious business, while Trot, at least before settling in Oz
>permanently, seemed to have a stronger sense of fun.
 
I like Trot, too, though I disagree that she had a stronger sense of fun
than Dorothy - at least, Dorothy in the later books, starting with _Emerald
City_, if not _Road_. Do you have an example in mind?
 
"Googly-goo" isn't really any more improbable than Kynd, Phearse, or Krewl,
is it? Nobody is going to name their child any of those things in a country
where they speak English. (Well, maybe "Kynd," but it seems unlikely, and
the others are impossible.)
 
David Hulan

Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 17:09:41 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: old Oz business
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Last month Robin Olderman wrote:
<<There's a picture of the Scarecrow that I don't think was drawn for
[SCARECROW].  P.212.>>
 
I had an AHA! experience while looking at the Oz Club's book order form
this morning. The same Scarecrow portrait appears on the cover of the
IWoOC's OZ TOY BOOK reprint, knee patch and all. That book was originally
published in 1915, the same year as SCARECROW. Can anyone confirm that the
club is reproducing the book's original cover?
 
J. L. Bell              JnoLBell at compuserve.com

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 12:43:11 -0400
From: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
Subject: return to OZ Digest
Sender: "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at compuserve.com>
 
Robin Olderman wrote:
<<The more I read [SCARECROW?], the more I agree that Baum tried to edit a
Trot & Cap'n Bill story into an Oz series tale.  He probably had part of
the story already written when it became clear that there would be no
continuation of that series and resurrected the MS when it came time to
write [SCARECROW]. . . . The melding is simply not quite seamless.>>
 
I see a fundamental difference between the first third of SCARECROW and
Baum's earlier books about Trot and Cap'n Bill, however. Both SEA FAIRIES
and SKY ISLAND were [for lack of better terms] "war books," not "travel
books." Instead of being an aggregation of barely connected episodes (like
DOROTHY & WIZARD), they both come to focus on a seesaw conflict between
good and bad (like OZMA). Granted, it takes a lot of undersea sightseeing
before SEA FAIRIES arrives at its conflict, but the battle with Zog
consumes the latter part of the book.

  The first third of SCARECROW is a travel book: its episodes don't build
on each other or have a clear direction. The travelers' arrival in Jinxland
turns the narrative into a war book, at least until the Orks fly our heroes
into Oz proper. Thus, borrowing the plot from HIS MAJESTY, THE SCARECROW
makes this Trot book into a real Trot book as well as a real Oz book. 
 
About Cap'n Bill lighting up in the underground tunnel, Dave Hulan wrote:
<<Presumably Cap'n Bill knew that Trot didn't object to his smoking his
pipe, since they'd known each other all her life. To be polite, he should
have asked the Ork if he minded if he smoked.>>
 
I wasn't writing about whether Cap'n Bill was impolite in lighting up in
the underground tunnel, but whether he was being wise. "Stuck in a tight
spot? I know--I'll fill it with smoke!"

  The Ork made no objection to Cap'n Bill smoking, but presumably kept away
for fear of being bitten.

  In a story I'm doodling for myself, Cap'n Bill asks if he can smoke his
pipe on Davy Jones's deck. The whale, being wooden, firmly forbids
unnecessary fires. That way I can reconcile the seaman's clearly stated
smoking habit with my own dislike of it. 
 
After my wellness remarks, Ruth Berman asked:
<<Who's Stephen Dowling Bots?>>
 
In HUCK FINN, chapter 17, Mark Twain has a young lady write (in parody of
the morbid amateur poet Julia Moore, I suspect):
 
    ODE TO STEPHEN DOWLING BOTS, DEC'D
 
    And did young Stephen sicken?
      And did young Stephen die?
    And did the sad hearts thicken?
      And did the mourners cry?
    ...
    O no. Then list with tearful eye,
      Whilst I his fate do tell.
    His soul did from this cold world fly
      By falling down a well.
 
J. L. Bell              JnoLBell at compuserve.com