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The Red Nose Reindeer"
On a December night in Chicago, a little girl climbed onto her
father's lap and asked a question. It was a simple question,
asked in children's curiosity, yet it had a heartrending effect
on Robert May.
"Daddy," four year old Barbara asked, "Why isn't my Mommy
just like everybody else's mommy?"
Bob May stole a glance across his shabby two room apartment.
On a couch lay his young wife, Evelyn, racked with cancer.
For two years she had been bedridden; for two years, all Bob's
income and smaller savings had gone to pay for treatments and
medicines.
The terrible ordeal already had shattered two adult lives. Now
Bob suddenly realized the happiness of his growing daughter
was also in jeopardy. As he ran his fingers through Barbara's
hair, he prayed for some satisfactory answer to her question.
Bob May knew only too well what it meant to be "different."
As a child he had been weak and delicate. With the innocent
cruelty of children, his playmates had continually goaded the
stunted, skinny lad to tears. Later at Dartmouth, from which
he was graduated in 1926, Bob May was so small that he was
always being mistaken for someone's little brother.
Nor was his adult life much happier. Unlike many of his class
mates who floated from college into plush jobs, Bob became
a lowly copy writer for Montgomery Ward, the big Chicago mail
order house. Now at 33, Bob was deep in debt, depressed
and sad.
Although Bob did not know it at the time, the answer he gave
the tousled haired child on his lap was to bring him to fame
and fortune. It was also to bring joy to countless thousands
of children like his own Barbara. On that December night in
the shabby Chicago apartment, Bob cradled his little girl's
head against his shoulder and began to tell a story...
"Once upon a time there was a reindeer named Rudolph, the
only reindeer in the world that had a big red nose. Naturally
people called him Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."
As Bob went on to tell about Rudolph, he tried desperately
to communicate to Barbara the knowledge that, even though
some creatures of God are strange and different, they often
enjoy the miraculous power to make others happy.
Rudolph, Bob explained, was terribly embarrassed by his
unique nose. Other reindeer laughed at him; his mother
and father and sister were mortified too. Even Rudolph
wallowed in self pity.
"Well," continued Bob, "one Christmas Eve, Santa Claus got
his team of husky reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and
Vixon ready for their yearly trip around the world. The entire
reindeer community assembled to cheer these great heroes on
their way. But a terrible fog engulfed the earth that evening,
and Santa knew that the mist was so thick he wouldn't be
able to find any chimney."
"Suddenly Rudolph appeared, his red nose glowing brighter
than ever. Santa sensed at once that here was the answer
to his perplexing problem. He led Rudolph to the front of
the sleigh, fastened the harness and climbed in."
"They were off! Rudolph guided Santa safely to every
chimney that night. Rain and fog, snow and sleet; nothing
bothered Rudolph, for his bright nose penetrated the mist
like a beacon."
"And so it was that Rudolph became the most famous and
beloved of all the reindeer. The huge red nose he once hid
in shame was now the envy of every buck and doe in the
reindeer world. Santa Claus told everyone that Rudolph had
saved the day and from that Christmas, Rudolph has been
living serenely and happy."
Little Barbara laughed with glee when her father finished.
Every night she begged him to repeat the tale until finally
Bob could rattle it off in his sleep. Then, at Christmas time
he decided to make the story into a poem like "The Night
Before Christmas" and prepare it in bookish form illustrated
with pictures, for Barbara's personal gift. Night after night,
Bob worked on the verses after Barbara had gone to bed
for he was determined his daughter would have a worthwhile
gift even though he could not afford to buy one...
Then as Bob was about to put the finishing touches on
Rudolph, tragedy struck. Evelyn May died. Bob, his hopes
crushed, turned to Barbara as chief comfort. Yet, despite his
grief, he sat at his desk in the quiet, now lonely apartment,
and worked on "Rudolph" with tears in his eyes.
Shortly after Barbara had cried with joy over his handmade
gift on Christmas morning, Bob was asked to an employee's
holiday party at Montgomery Wards. He didn't want to go,
but his office associates insisted. When Bob finally agreed,
he took with him the poem and read it to the crowd. First
the noisy throng listened in laughter and gaiety. Then they
became silent, and at the end, broke into spontaneous
applause. That was in 1938.
By Christmas of 1947, some 6 million copies of the booklet
had been given away or sold, making Rudolph one of the
most widely distributed books in the world. The demand for
Rudolph sponsored products, increased so much in variety
and number that educators and historians predicted Rudolph
would come to occupy a permanent place in the Christmas
legend.
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"Where there is hate, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light."
- St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
Italian religious leader
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