What is important?

Andrew and I finished reading Stuart Little this afternoon.  For those of you who haven’t read this great book or who don’t remember the plot, the book ends with Stuart (a mouse) heading north to search for his missing friend, a lovely brown bird named Margalo.

As we turned the last page, there’s a pictures of Stuart driving north in his cute little car, and the last line is, “But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.”

Andrew paused and said, “What happens then??”  I told him that since the book ended, we’d have to write his own ending.  So we pulled out a pad of paper, and he wrote out, “Stuart finds Margalo.”  So sweet.  Such a wonderfully sweet boy!

Earlier in the book, we ran across a line that had been one my mom quoted.  I read it out loud to Andrew a couple times, and I thought I’d share it with you!  In this chapter, Stuart (a mouse, remember) has taken on the job of substitute teaching a class of school children.

Everyone’s eyes lit up with excitement to see such a small and good-looking teacher, so appropriately dressed.

After some humorous preliminaries, they get down to business. Stuart announces that the world gets into a lot of trouble because it has no chairman.

“I would like to be Chairman of the world myself.”

“You’re too small,” said Mary Bendix.

“Oh, fish feathers,” said Stuart. “Size has nothing to do with it. It’s temperament and ability that count. The Chairman has to have ability and he must know what’s important. How many of you know what’s important?”

Up went all the hands

“Very good,” said Stuart . . . . “Henry Rackmeyer, you tell us what is important.”

“A shaft of sunlight at the end of a dark afternoon, a note in music, and the way the back of a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy,” answered Henry.”

“Correct,” said Stuart. “Those are the important things. You forgot one thing though. Mary Bendix, what did Henry Rackmeyer forget?”

“He forgot ice cream with chocolate sauce on it,” said Mary quickly.

“Exactly,” said Stuart. “Ice cream is important.”

Mom often quoted E.B. White as saying that one of the most important things in life is the way a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy.  I agree.