The Story of Timmy Sprite
by
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The Story of Timmy Sprite is a children's tale written in verse in 1968. It is about a young boy whose legs are paralyzed since birth. He spends his days in bed looking out his window at the trash filled yard below. Mr. Meekly, the elderly neighbor who owns the yard, spends his days on the opposite end of the yard sitting on his back stoop staring sadly into space. One day Mr. Meekly appears in the yard with a very large dog. The dog, whose name is Ignatius, brings great joy to the old man. Soon, however, Ignatius becomes involved in certain disruptive activities that cause the neighbors to regard Mr. Meekly with great disdain. After a series of wondrous events, the story concludes with the yard transformed into a garden paradise. Mr. Meekly loved and respected by his neighbors, and Timmy Sprite mounted in a saddle on Ignatius' back laughing and playing among the flowers.
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About the Book
The Story of Timmy Sprite is written in 57 stanzas. Some years after completing the story, the author took it upon himself to illustrate each stanza in ink and watercolor, a daunting task for one not disciplined in this sort of thing. After finishing eighteen illustrations he put the task aside feeling he had bitten off more than he could chew. Twenty five years later, after retiring from the insurance business and moving to the summer retreat in Rhode Island, he began to woo a lovely lady he had known for thirty years. In his efforts to impress her, he hauled out a dozen unpublished short stories he had written, she being an average reader. One of those stories was Timmy Sprite. So taken was she with the piece, she urged him to finish the illustrations. He did and soon they were married.
About the Author
Born in 1928, Wharton Biddle attended the University of Pennsylvania for one year before transferring to the Philadelphia Museum School of Art where he studied advertising art for three years. Rather than pursue a career in art, he opted for work in the business field where he remained until his retirement in 1993. Mr. Biddle has three grown children (two boys and a girl) by his first wife. He remarried in 1995 and lives with his wife, Ann, in Jamestown, Rhode Island.