Mr. Popper's Penguins (10 page)

“I’d like that very much,” said Mr. Popper.

“We’d pay you, of course,” continued Mr. Klein. “Not a fortune, as we could have if you’d let us give them a contract, but, say, twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“We could use it,” said Mrs. Popper.

“It will be very quiet at 432 Proudfoot Avenue,” said Mr. Popper, when everyone had left.

Mrs. Popper did not answer. She knew that nothing she could say could really comfort him.

“However,” said Mr. Popper, “now that spring is here, a lot of people will be wanting their houses painted, so we’d better be getting back.”

“Anyway,” said Bill, “we’ve had ten whole weeks of vacation right in the middle of the year, and not many children in Stillwater can say that.”

The next day the cameramen arrived to make the picture of the penguins doing their tricks. It was arranged that the Poppers should stay in New York just long enough to see the Expedition off.

Meanwhile, in the harbor, the great sailing ship of Admiral Drake was being made ready for its long trip north. Every day huge boxes of supplies of all sorts were hustled on board. The most comfortable quarters on the ship were turned over to the penguins, who were the cause of the voyage.

Captain Cook was already quite familiar with the ship, since it was the same one the Admiral had sailed to the South Pole, where Captain Cook had often seen it. Greta, too, had seen vessels of its kind. The two of them were kept very busy showing and explaining everything to Nelson, Columbus, Louisa, Jenny, Scott, Magellan, Adelina, Isabella, Ferdinand, and Victoria.

The sailors all took the greatest delight in watching the curious little birds at their explorations.

“It looks as if this will be a pretty lively trip,” they would say. “These Popper Penguins certainly live up to their reputation.”

But at last everything was ready, and the day came when the Poppers were to go down and say good-by. Bill and Janie ran all over the ship, and did not want to leave when it was time to draw up the gangplank. The Admiral shook hands with them and Mrs. Popper, and thanked them for having helped to train the extraordinary penguins that were to be a real contribution to science.

Mr. Popper had gone down below to say a private farewell to his birds. All that kept him from breaking down completely was the knowledge that what he was doing was best for them, too. First he said good-by to all the younger penguins. Then to Greta, who had saved Captain Cook. Then, last of all, he leaned over and said a special good-by to Captain Cook, who had come and made life so different for Mr. Popper.

Then he wiped his eyes, straightened his back, and went up on deck to say good-by to Admiral Drake.

“Good-by, Admiral Drake,” he said.

“Good-by?” repeated the Admiral. “Why, what do you mean? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Me — go with you to the North Pole?”

“Why, of course, Mr. Popper.”

“But how could I go with you? I’m not an explorer or a scientist. I’m only a house painter.”

“You’re the keeper of the penguins, aren’t you?” roared the Admiral. “Man alive, aren’t those penguins the reason for this whole Expedition? And who’s going to see that they’re well and happy if you’re not along? Go put on one of those fur suits, like the rest of us. We’re pulling anchor in a minute.”

“Mamma,” shouted Mr. Popper to Mrs. Popper, who had already gone up the gangplank, “I’m going, too! I’m going, too! Admiral Drake says he needs me. Mamma, do you mind if I don’t come home for a year or two?”

“Oh, as to that,” said Mrs. Popper, “I’ll miss you very much, my dear. But we have money to live on for a few years. And in winter it will be much easier to keep the house tidy without a man sitting around all day. I’ll be getting back to Stillwater. Tomorrow is the day for the meeting of the Ladies’ Aid and Missionary Society, and I’ll be just in time. So good-by, my love, and good luck.”

“Good-by and good luck!” echoed the children.

And the penguins, hearing their voices, scuttled up on deck and stood there beside the Admiral and Mr. Popper. Then they solemnly lifted their flippers and waved, as the great ship moved slowly down the river toward the sea.

THE END

In 1932, Richard Atwater and his wife, Florence, took their two daughters to see a documentary film about Richard E. Byrd’s Antarctic expedition. Mr. Atwater was very impressed by the movie, and he decided to write a book about the penguins from Antarctica. When one of his daughters objected to children’s books about history, he started to write a magical story about a group of penguins, which would later become
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
.

Richard Tupper Atwater was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1892. He studied at the University of Chicago and taught Greek there while in graduate school. He later went on to work as a writer for the
Chicago Tribune
and other newspapers. Florence Hasseltine Carroll was born in 1896 in Chicago, Illinois. She also obtained two degrees at the University of Chicago, where her Classical Greek teacher was a young man named Richard Atwater! They married in 1921. Florence taught high school French, English, and Latin, and she also wrote a number of articles for the
New Yorker
and the
Atlantic.

Richard’s first children’s book was
Doris and the Trolls
, about two children who follow a cat named Mitzi to a land of mischievous trolls to rescue the Ting Tang Fairy. His second was a children’s operetta called
The King’s Sneezes
. In it, the Fiddlers Three have been sent to the dungeon for laughing when King Nicholas sneezes, and it’s up to young Max Luckyfoot to cure him.

Richard had completed a manuscript called
Ork! The Story of Mr. Popper’s Penguins
, when he suffered a severe stroke in 1934 and was forced to stop writing. He lived until 1948, but could never write again. So Florence took over.

After two publishers rejected the book, Florence rewrote the story, keeping many parts the same but adding more realistic events. (In the version written by Richard Atwater, Mr. Popper draws a penguin on a mirror with shaving cream and it comes to life!) The revised manuscript was accepted and published in 1938.

Florence lived until the age of eighty-three and died in 1979.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
remained a bestselling book throughout her lifetime, and has enchanted children and adults for over seventy years. It has won many awards, including the Newbery Honor, and has been translated into many languages.

Richard Tupper Atwater (second from left) as part of a theatrical group in Berlin, Germany, circa 1913.

Richard Tupper Atwater in Berlin circa 1913. “Nichtraucher” means “No Smoking” in German.

Photo of Florence Carroll Atwater circa 1921.

Richard and Florence Atwater with their first daughter, Doris, at the Indiana dunes in 1925.