Living the Fictional Dream

The other day, I suddenly had the urge to pull my copy of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew down off my bookshelf. If you’ve never heard of the Peppers, they were the stars of Margaret Sidney’s children’s book series, which was originally published from 1881 to 1916. It took me a year or so of active Ebaying, but I finally managed to get copies of the whole Pepper series.

I remember finding the first Pepper book in my elementary school library and devouring it as a child. I always loved classic children’s stories from the turn of the century. Little Women still tops my favorite books of all time list (as well as being the book I’ve read the most ever), and some of my other childhood favorites included A Little Princess and The Secret Garden.

The great thing about these books is how uplifting they are. They create likable characters that you can whole-heartedly root for as they navigate their way through various imaginative and home-spun situations. Good always wins in the end, the villains are either truly evil or redeemed, the good guys are stalwart and true, and happiness is ultimately attained for those who deserve it.

Part of me has always longed to visit a world in which there was both the time and gumption to think of elaborate theatricals and perform them for one’s friends. A time when a trip to the store was an event to be dressed up for, not an errand to run. A time when occaions were marked with imaginative and homemade gifts, and good-natured frolics and outings were encouraged regularly. A time when sitting around telling each other stories was a favorite way to pass the time.

I suppose some people would think these stories too sweet or that they have too few dimensions. I will admit, they are not adult fair, but as a child, I loved them. And I still appreciate them today. When Jasper and Mr. King invite the whole of the Pepper family to move into the mansion in the city so they can have a better life than the hand-to-mouth existence they eeked out on Mrs. Pepper’s sewing and brother Ben’s wood chopping, it still gives me a little thrill of excitement. They met their hardships and travails with courage and good humor, and in the end, they got everything they ever wanted. It’s the same kind of thrill I get when Sara Crewe from A Little Princess wakes up to find that her cold attic bedroom has become a wonderful fairyland full of food and new clothes.

However, going back and reading these books as an adult does give one another perspective on them. There are some strange points of view in these old stories that were probably prevalent when they were published, but that seem very strange to the modern eye.

For instance, there is a scene at the beginning of The Five Little Peppers Midway in which the youngest Pepper, Phronsie, decides to bake a pie for her sister Polly. She asks Mr. King’s cook for help, and, of course, the cook is thrilled to help her with her project, as Phronsie is the pet of the household. Phronsie reaches out to take the cook’s hand as they walk to the kitchen, but the cook, a black man, is afraid to let her take it because (he says) he is too black to sully a lily like Phronsie.

I must admit, reading that scene made me cringe. If I ever read this to my little girl, I will be tempted to skip right over that scene entirely, and go straight to the baking scene. The fact that someone would feel that another person was worth more than them based on the color of skin — it rubs me the wrong way. And, it also says something about the attitude of Sidney that she would write it this way instead of, perhaps, that he was afraid to take her hand because he would get in trouble for stepping above his station, not because he thought she was that much more wonderful than he. But, the scene is moderately redeemed by the fact that Phronsie does not let the cook get away without holding her hand, because it’s his hand, therefore part of him, and she likes him just the way he is.

There is also a prevalent attitude that it is bad for children to cry. I suspect it was prevalent at the time of publication — or at least very strongly believed in by Sidney. That tempertantrums are things to be avoided is not so strange, but so are tears shed for sadness or other reasons that today would be encouraged as self-expression or being in touch with one’s emotions. If a character in the Pepper books has the need for a good cry, they are always begged not to let the tears go for the sake of their health (it will make you sick!) and so as not to distress their mother, Mr. King, or whatever adult happens to be around.

But, despite some foibles because these books were written over 100 years ago, over all, I still like them. And, even as an adult, every once in a while, I like diving into that simpler time. Staying there all the time would be too much, but an occasional visit to the old fashioned land of the Peppers, the Marches, or Sara Crewe can be quite refreshing.

During my dip, though, I will have to be careful not to follow Sidney’s writing style. She seldom uses the word “said,” instead favoring more descriptive terms, no matter how absurd they seem (e.g., cried, screamed, laughed). And don’t get me started on her overuse of adverbs and words that don’t mean anything — like “just” and “almost.”

And when I’m reading about the Peppers, I find myself wanting to use their pet phrases, such as “I almost know” (i.e., I almost know that Mom will let me adopt this puppy), in every day conversation.

If you hear me utter one of those old fashioned phrases, just smile and nod… and perhaps grant me an invitation to your next amateur theatrical, if you please!