William Little
The Islands’ Renaissance Man
One of the most famous imaginary characters in the boys’ imaginary world was William Little, the President of Long Continent and Arthur Nelson’s alter ego. Arthur’s personality shines through Little’s character as he assumes the role of publisher, author, hero, and poet within the Nelson brothers’ homemade literary works. There is never a task too tall for William Little. His accomplishments as the leader of Long Continent are that of legend—perhaps the same legacy that Arthur wished to leave behind as he began to grow up and dream of his own mark on history.
As Publisher:
William Little co-published a fictional publication named Chit Chat, which is comprised of stories, illustrations, poetry, and advertisements for various goods or other publications that the Nelson brothers’ produced. The collection includes four separate issues of Chit Chat—a December, January, February, and an undated issue. The publication was directed “to our boys and girls,” as noted on the cover page of each issue. The titles of stories within Chit Chat include, “The Indian Wars,” “How the Hunts Became Rich,” “Stories of a Gunboat," ”Skating When Its Not Fun," “Lost Mountain,” “A Curious Adventure: A Girl’s Story,” and “Unknown Wives of Unknown Men.” A few of these stories were separated into parts and released in separate issues.
Cover of December "Chit Chat" issue.
This picture shows an opening page of a "Chit Chat" issue, with a poem written by William Little, illustrations, credits, and a seemingly unfinished table of contents.
Here, the boys cut and past a funny joke onto a page of "The Trapper". This scrapbook document was published by "Green and Little Publications" as well.
"Different Stories" Cover: notice the corrections drawn over the pen-written title with pencil. Even after the correction, it is still spelled wrong--the joys of co-publishing!
William Little also co-published various documents with Burt Green such as The Trapper or Different Stories. Their publishing company was named “Green and Little Publications.” Just as Chit Chat was co-published with Ethan Allen, these documents also represent a collaborative bookmaking and storytelling process completed by the brothers. The brothers' would take ownership of their own stories within the publication, but gave each other equal recognition for the publication as a whole. In certain cases, like in “Different Stories,” James Thackery—an unknown alias within the boys’ imaginary world—wrote the book, but Burt Green and William Little (Elmer and Arthur) published the book itself.
As Hero:
In various histories written by the Nelson Brothers, we gain contextual information about William Little’s background. The reader learns that “William Little is six feet and 4 inches high” and “has licked eight Indians at a time”(Complete Georgraphy of the World). The reader also gains knowledge of William Little’s lineage as the son of John Little, founder of Long Continent and Little City. When “John Little died age 89, his honest son William Little was elected president”(History of Long Continent). Once elected president, William Little becomes one of the illustrious heroes in the Nelson brothers’ imaginary world.
Arthur Nelson writes most of the heroic accounts that pertain to his alter ego, William Little. One might presume that Arthur began writing such stories at a young age, especially when reading through various misspellings and lack of punctuation in The Voyage of the Francis.
"It was early in July when the good little sail boat Francis started on a fishing trip as they went of[f] they set setup the flag boat a hoy shouted one man and a rowboat came up with William Little in it he was going home the boat sailed on 1 mile when [page break] they saw a shole of salmon so they went to work spearing them they got twenty then a storm came up it be came dark they let down anchor the cable broke and they were drifting amidst the storm they new not what to do now" (The Voyage of the Francis)
It is difficult to follow the rapid transitions in Arthur’s storytelling, but there is a clear effort to cast William Little in a heroic light from the very beginning. Arthur’s erratic writing style represents his literal growth as a boy, but also as a writer and storyteller. Arthur developed William Little’s heroism by creating a historical account of his role as the leader of Long Continent.
"Now Poplington on Big Continent was what William Little wanted so he put of in a ship he landed and stayed thare a little while then a man named Bill Poroncho atacked William Little but William drove him back this excited Eathan Allen and so the next day Eathan made an atack on William William was drove back into his ship and drove back with shame and scorn William Litles ship most sank but he got to an island first and so every body was saved they made another ship and got home again but now William Little was not satisfied he went over to Round Continent and got Birt Green and three thousand soldiers then William Little and four thousand men started with Birt Green and his men to a talk Poplington but Eathan Allen met them first the Long Continenters drove Eathan Allen but Birt had his horse shot under him and then Eathan Allens men drove William forty Big Contineners were shot and one hundred of Wills and Birts men shot then again the Long Continenters drove the Big Continenters for Will and Bert had seven thousand and Eathan Allen only fore thousand but a gain they rushed at each other but the Long and Round Continenters could not stand any more so they broke and fled for the ship they got in and went of[f] amids the shouts [page break] of hurah for Eathan Allen has beat William Little sailed back to his land" (History of Long Continent)
Arthur’s rudimentary style is evident in this work as well, but the reader gains more knowledge of William Little and begins to understand the connection between the continents and their leaders. There is an incredible attention to detail in these historical accounts. The contextual information used to describe the heroic acts of William Little are not lost when reading other works by the Nelsons. In the Sunny Shore Editorials, we learn that Little’s heroics stretched far beyond the battlefield.
"Sunny Shore has 7 millions of inhabitants which is about 2 million less than the largest state in Dixville that being Northland Plains. When William Little bought Sunny Shore it only had 1 million inhabitants it has increased 3 million a year since then. Is not that alone a pretty good reccomend for it there is said to be 8 million acres of strawberries which would make 1 1/7 acres of strawberries to every person for Sunny Shore is the biggest strawberry country in the world. We recommend Sunny Shore to all the farmers and gardeners who want to do a big thing, as “The” place to start in" (Sunny Shore Editorials)
William Little’s ability to grow an entire population and its crops is impressive. Creating successful stories like those in Sunny Shore Record, in addition to stories of battle, makes Little's accomplishments as leader of Long Continent that much more impressive. The amount of detail used by Arthur Nelson in each of these works helps illustrate the admirable heroics of William Little and properly preserves his legacy.
Cover page for "An Adventure on Red Rover"
"Otho and Arthur are found"
As Author:
One of the most accomplished stories in this Nelson brothers’ collection is An Adventure on Red Rover. This is one of the brothers’ most coherent and exciting stories, and it is written by William Little. The story is about an attack by three giant birds on Walter Allen, age 12, Otho Strong, age 14, who are rescued by Arthur Little, age 14, aided by Elmer Green (no age given). Here the names of the Nelson brothers and their cousin Otho Farr blend with the names of figures from their imaginary world. The adventure takes place “on the isle of Red Rover that the miners lived and dug for coal.” Walter and Otho are held captive by the ferocious birds in a cave for five days before their rescue.
Arthur Little first senses trouble when he sees six-inch footprints in freshly fallen snow. The author writes that, "It looked like the great birds we see and read about in the natural histories where it tells about the great monsters of a thousand years ago.” Towards the end the author notes that, "These birds were proberbly some that had survived their old ancestors.” This reference to “old ancestors” from a “thousand years ago” suggests that the boys were aware of the history of dinosaurs, and possibly knew about the orignial interpretation of dinosaur footprints as the tracks of large prehistoric birds.
The layout of the first page of the January issue of "Chit Chat," which includes the poem at the top of the page
As Poet:
There is a poem written at the beginning of each Chit Chat issue, placed between the busts of Ethan Allen and William Little. Etta Little, the wife of William Little, contributes poetry to Chit Chat as well. The Nelson Brother's father, Hial, enjoyed reading poetry and it is possible his passion for the subject was passed down to his children. William and Etta Little are the main contributors of poetry to the Chit Chat issues. The poems are include in their entirety below:
This month is December / A little colder than November / Clink clink goes the skate / The team sters load their sleds with logs / And get home late / And the old soakers drink all they can hold / And then blow their fingers because they ar cold
WJL (Chit Chat-December)
Christmas is all most here / The happiest time of all the year / And here comes our premium list / Your hearts to cheer
Truly yours,
William J Little (Chit-Chat-February)
January is here / the coldest month of all / the year and we sit by the fire light / on a midwinters night / and ro[a]st our apples / and pop our [corn?] / while out side the blustering storm / seems to be in a rage / because he cannot get /into our [cage?]
Etta Little (Chit Chat-January)
Summers winds /Have passed and gone / And winters sun / Begins to dawn /To day down the snow flakes circle / To mingle with the dust / Tomorrow the frost doth sparkle / On the icy winter curst
E.L (Chit Chat-February)