from American Boy
He Lives On
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He Lives On |
Ellis Parker Butler, author of "Pigs Is Pigs," is dead. So the radio announced one evening early in September, and a laughter-loving nation mourned. To many boys, the loss was personal.
Though it was the story of Mike Flannery's fast-multiplying guinea pigs that made Ellis Parker Butler famous, boys are likely to think first of his later stories about the sidesplitting adventures of solemn, sail-nosed Jibby Jones and his followers on the banks of the Mississippi. The American Boy published the first Jibby Jones story in June, 1921, and it was followed by dozens of others. Tall, lanky Jibby, unpredictably wise and funny, made thousands of friends.
Only a few weeks ago a stranger dropped in at the editorial offices to discuss a business matter and presently began chatting about the magazine. "Yes, I read it for years," he said. "I knew Jibby Jones well." And began to chuckle and relive Jibby's adventures... That evening the radio announced Ellis Parker Butler's death. The coincidence brought a pang.
But a man's life can't be measured by statistics. What if the records do say that Ellis Parker Butler was born in 1869 at Muscatine, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi, and died in September, 1937, at his home in Flushing, New York? After all, only the shell is gone. In print that does not perish, in such characters as Mike Flannery and Jibby Jones, in a rich legacy of tonic laughter, Ellis Parker Butler lives on.
Editor's Note:
This article incorrectly lists Flushing as Butler's home at the time of his death.
