More Laughing Brook thoughts

I remember Laughing Brook during the 1970s. I especially remember the gift shop, where my family apparently bought the postcard below.

Mother West Wind and her taxidermy animal friends

Post card description

I don't remember meeting Mother West Wind. But I do remember that it was a shrine to Thornton W. Burgess filled with Harrison Cady-based animal images and caged animals labeled "Jimmy Skunk," "Peter Rabbit," etc. 

Aside from a single trail named "Burgess Trail" and some map copy, Thornton W. Burgess and his characters have been elided from Laughing Brook. 

I don't blame Mass Audubon for this. Fires, floods, and the decline of Burgess in the popular memory have made the property easier to manage as a regular wildlife sanctuary. 

And it doesn't take much imagination to reinsert his characters into the unusually large number of den-like cavities that abound on the property.