BURZEE FOREST: Was the Bradford landscape the source of
inspiration for a portion of the opening of an L. Frank Baum book,
“The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus”?

Perhaps.

We began yesterday telling readers about Mary Fairbanks’ theory
that Baum had drawn on his memories of Bradford in writing a
description for what he called “The Burzee Forest.”

Baum undoubtedly did live for a time in Bradford, but could it
have been the basis for the imaginary forest included in the first
chapter of this Santa book?

We quote: “Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? Nurse
used to sing of it when I was a child.”

“She sang of the big tree-trunks, standing close together, with
their roots intertwining below the earth and their branches
intertwining above it; of their rough coating of bark and queer,
gnarled limbs; of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest,
save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the
ground in little spots and to cast weird and curious shadows over
the mosses, the lichens and the drifts of dried leaves.

“The Forest of Burzee is mighty and grand and awesome to those
who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the sunlit meadows into
its mazes it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant, and afterward
filled with never-ending delights.

“For hundreds of years it has flourished in all its
magnificence, the silence of its inclosure unbroken save by the
chirp of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts and the songs of
birds.

“Yet Burzee has its inhabitants – for all this. Nature peopled
it in the beginning with Fairies, Knooks, Ryls and Nymphs. As long
as the Forest stands it will be a home, a refuge and a playground
to these sweet immortals, who revel undisturbed in its depths.

“Civilization has never yet reached Burzee. Will it ever, I
wonder?”

ALAN, CHRISTINE: “For five Christmases now, we have received a
card from Alan and Christine. No surname, no address or phone
number. We are motor caravaners and think we met them at a rally.
Would it be possible for you to put an appeal in your paper for
them to get in touch with us? The only clue we have is a Bradford
postmark.”

The email was from Joan and Colin Wilson.

If you know Alan and Christine, give us a call.