Role Models: A.M. Foley

St. Michaels Map and History

© John Norton

On the broad Miles River, with its picturesque tree-lined streets and beautiful harbor, St. Michaels has been a haven for boats plying the Chesapeake and its inlets since the earliest days. Here, some of the handsomest models of the Bay craft, such as canoes, bugeyes, pungys and some famous Baltimore Clippers, were designed and built. The Church, named “St. Michael’s,” was the first building erected (about 1677) and around it clustered the town that took its name.

For a walking tour and more history of the St. Michaels area visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/st-michaels-maryland/.

Role Models

by A.M. Foley

If you’re not doing anything special on January 18, consider celebrating National Winnie-the-Pooh Day. The 18th of January was the birthday of author A. A. Milne. One person who never celebrated any such Pooh Day was Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne. As he aged, A. A.’s boy grew increasingly resentful toward his father, feeling his identity had been stolen. Let’s just call him Chris and quote from his autobiography about how his father “filched from me my good name and left me with nothing but the empty fame of being his son.”

At the same time, A. A. himself resented being thought of as a children’s author. Before Chris ever came along to cuddle a cute stuffed bear, Milne the Elder supported himself as a writer and assistant editor of Punch magazine, enjoyed success as a playwright, and had written a detective novel and other adult fiction, including World War I British government propaganda. Alan Alexander Milne was 44 before Winnie-the-Pooh was published.

Any fan of the immortal Pooh must be disillusioned to learn of such strained family relationships and resentments arising from the sweet-natured denizen of the Hundred Acre Wood ~ the creation of a doting father immortalizing his only child’s favorite toy.

The Bear with Very Little Brain was my earliest role model and remains high on my list. Pooh had his best friend, Piglet, but he was also fond of their neighbors of every size, shape and hue, tolerant of their foibles and ever ready to offer them a helping hand.

When gloomy Eeyore lost his tail, it was Pooh who realized that the verbose Owl had innocently picked it up and hung it by his door as a bell-pull. And when Eeyore was feeling friendless on his birthday, Pooh and Piglet proved him wrong, bringing him well-intentioned gifts. In times of peril, despite being a non-swimmer, Pooh saved Piglet from a flash flood and later rescued little Roo when the toddler was swept away by the river.

By then, Kanga and Roo had gained acceptance in the Hundred Acre Wood, though initially the native creatures, especially Rabbit, were leery of their alien ways. To quote Rabbit on Kanga, a sweet-