|
Townspeople Protected Famed Writer’s Privacy
|
E.B. White |
But when the curious came
calling, no one local liked to give directions to the place,
for the family’s privacy was respected. |
When Friend Memorial Library
opened, membership cost 50 cents for women and one dollar for
men. Operating hours were negligible and there were about 300
books.
|
All of America
enjoyed for years the writing of the man whom Brooklin got to enjoy
every day, E.B. White.
Essayist and
novelist White and his wife, the editor and garden writer Katharine
Sergeant White, lived in Brooklin full-time starting in 1957, having
been in town part-time since 1939.
E.B. White died in
October 1985, and his memorial service took place at the First
Congregational Church in nearby Blue Hill. But his legacy remains in
Brooklin.
Son Joel White, who
grew up on Brooklin’s bays, was a famous boat designer before his
death in 1997. Two of Joel White’s children still live in Brooklin:
Steve White is a boatbuilder and John White, a lobsterman. And Roger
Angell, E.B. White’s stepson who is a celebrated baseball writer, is
a Brooklin summer resident.
The Whites lived on
a 40-acre farm in
North Brooklin. But when the curious came calling, no one local
liked to give directions to the place, for the family’s privacy was
respected. Tourists who sought autographs for his popular
children’s books—“Stuart Little” (1945), “Charlotte’s
Web” (1952) and “The Trumpet of the Swan” (1970)—were dissuaded.
They could enjoy,
of course, what many locals enjoyed, the display of original
illustrations from “Stuart Little.” These were given to the town’s
Friend Memorial Library by E.B. White, who also took an interest in
modernizing the library.
He and Katharine
helped build shelves for more books. They also arranged to have
someone come in and catalog all the books.
E.B. White was a
big library user himself, not just a patron. He did some of his
research there for his weekly New Yorker essays. Locals read his
columns avidly for frequent mentions of their town.
“E.B. White was a
private man, and we all knew that,” recalled June Eaton, who has
worked at the library since the 1960s.
“Years ago he once
spoke in the Baptist church. The occasion was a Memorial Day
service. And after the youngsters decorated the graves, he became
emotional. He never, ever again spoke publicly. But he did give a
nice report that time.”
Today, a garden
sitting area at the library, called “Circle of Friends,” honors the
Whites’ memory.
|
