More than just Pooh

At the bookstore I spotted a book by A. A. Milne called "The Sunny Side." Milne, of course, is best known for his Winnie-the-Pooh stories. But before he wrote Pooh, he wrote humorous stories and poems for the British magazine Punch. First published in 1921, "The Sunny Side" is a compilation of Milne's favorite writings from Punch, or at least those that he thought an American audience would appreciate. What first caught my eye with this book was the subtitle on the dustcover, which reads "Short Stories and Poems for Proper Grown-ups." Now there's a grin! I opened the book and read the blurb on the inner sleeve. Then I read the opening lines from several of the stories in the book. The more I learned about A. A. Milne's humorous side, the more I liked his style, and the more I saw similarities between this book and the book I would like to compile of my own stories and poems. Putting aside debate as to whether or not I qualify as a proper grown-up, I purchased "The Sunny Side" and took it home. I'm about half way through. The stories are a bit dated, but quaint and creative. I suppose this is the best you can hope for with a book of humor pushing 90 years old. "Well, isn't that quaint." I wonder if that was what Milne was getting at when he mentions in the introduction that "The Sunny Side" will be the last of this sort of book. The reason, he says, is that "this sort of writing depends largely on the irresponsibility and high spirits of youth for its success, and I want to stop before...the high spirits become mechanical and the irresponsibility a trick." Really?! Let's see, in 1921 when Milne wrote those words, he would have been 39 years old. Too old to write humor? But just the right stage of life to start writing children stories about a bear named Winnie-the-Pooh? Go figure.