Brandywine Boy

I just finished reading "Brandywine Boy," Dr. Adrian Morrison's enchanting memoir about growing up on a dairy farm in Chadds Ford in the 1940s and 1950s. Among a large variety of boyhood anecdotes packed into this short book, he recounts stories of farm chores (he hated weeding), taking care of the animals, going to the then-segregated Chadds Ford School (with Mr. Haldeman as principal), sneaking onto the merry-go-round at Lenape Park, listening to "The Lone Ranger" and "Captain Midnight" on the radio, jumping into hay piles, building a log cabin in the woods with his pals, skinny-dipping in the creek (though his mother was worried about his contracting polio), playing in a dance band, spending summers working at the Haskells' Hill Girt Farm and riding his beloved horse Rocky.
Given the compassion and affinity he displayed for animals at an early age, it's no surprise he went on to become an eminent veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania.
"Thanks to Rocky I became a veterinarian. One winter morning I saw him limping a bit as he came across the pasture in back of our barn. I think he must have tangled with those Western horses and slipped. In any event, I told my mother that I wasn't going to school that day so I could nurse Rocky."
The author often reflects on the vast differences between then and now, some good and some not-so-good. He recalls that to build the log cabin, he and his friends cut down catalpa trees. "I was detailed to ask my father if we could cut them down. He said we could as long as we stuck to catalpas. In these days of injury lawsuits, can you imagine that he didn't blink an eye when I asked?"
Dr. Morrison, a grandfather of eight who now lives at Kendal, writes in a vivid, conversational and easy-to-read style, and I'll bet he is a great storyteller in person. This delightful book is available on Amazon.com. I will treasure the copy that he sent me.