"A good many people down here in New York seem to think that going to live on a farm...is some sort of height of affectation. They seem to think that you must be either washed up or very rich to do it. But we just wanted to do it."

Posted: April 18, 2009, 23:04:56 pm by Jen

During his New York City days, as a writer and columnist for The New Yorker, [E.B.] White was not fully able to indulge his love for animals, insects, and birds. However, in the fall of 1933, he and Katherine began to spend parts of the year in North Brooklin, and White was finally able to interact with and care for all kinds of creatures. The couple raised eyebrows when they first made the decision to go rural. They had both worked full-time at The New Yorker for decades. "A good many people down here in New York seem to think that going to live on a farm the year round, especially a farm so far away, is some sort of height of affectation. They seem to think that you must be either washed up or very rich to do it. But we just wanted to do it," White told interviewer Robert Van Gelder in 1942.

Source: 'E. B. White: A Shy Man Fond of Creatures' by Deborah Straw

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