 Welcome to Story and Arts for Children here at ACMI TV and today we have a wonderful story for you. My name is Peggy and this is my friend Little Bear. Yeah, what are you going to do today? We're going to have another story. What's it going to be about? It's going to be about this book that I wrote. It's called Becoming Friends with the Olschwab Mill. What is the Olschwab Mill? I don't get it. Well, it's this wonderful place in Arlington. Can we go there? Well, let's read the story first and then I'll tell you afterwards. I bet we could go there. But will you be a good listener? Yes, I want to hear all about the story. Okay, you sit here and I'm going to open my book and start the story. Okay? And I wrote this book two winters ago when it was very cold. Do you remember? Yes, I do. Well, I went into the mill and I got to go there and take photographs inside the mill. And then I made pictures on top of it about the people in the story. Oh, cool. All right, let's start the story. Years ago, two boys, Cody Ryan and his dog named Dublin and his older brother Jake, spent time at the Olschwab Mill after school. Jake was hired to sweep the floors and do odd jobs there. Oh, he's got his broom. Yep, he's got his broom. Cody had to tag along with his brother and amuse himself by reading books on the old wooden floors of the mill until Jake finished his work. Cody wished every day that he had friends to play with. But his only friend was Dublin, who often curled up and went to sleep near him. That was his dog right there. One day, when Cody decided he was tired of reading his books and wanted to explore the mill, he and Jake made a bargain. They shook hands on it at the bottom of the stairs. They agreed that Cody could roam about and explore the tables, the machinery, and all the interesting nooks and crannies in the mill, but he was not allowed to go upstairs. To the second floor, where adults were busy working. Since Cody had permission to snoop around the first floor of the mill, the next day, he decided he would like to begin drawing things that interested him. He jumped up on one of the big old tables, laid up on his back, and began to draw big circles. Suddenly, the wheels started turning in his imagination. Wow! Cody thought, have a great idea. I'm going to fill up my art book with drawings of these tables, the wheels, the old tools, and pictures that are coming out of my imagination. Yes, feels great. I'm not going to read my books right now. I'm going to draw. So feeling very excited about his brilliant idea, Cody began wondering about the first floor of the mill. In the next room, he noticed a man's hat hanging from the shelves filled with pieces of wood. He looked up and wondered, who had owned this hat and why was it left, hanging on a peg all by itself? Since he didn't have any answers, he imagined it be going to, excuse me, it belonged to a friendly man and his dog that had a job welcoming people to the mills years ago. Yes, that must be the answer. He recorded his question and drew his second picture in his art book. While Cody was in the room with the shelves of wood in the hat, he couldn't help stop noticing where there were large wooden frames hanging from the ceiling. Why didn't they have pictures in them? This seems strange to him. So he drew the oval frames in his art book, then filled them with a king. Someone's grandmother, a grandfather, and a picture of their wedding taken long ago. These were Cody's drawings. He was a very good artist. When Cody spied two tables in the corner of the mill with large metal wheels attached to them, his imagination took off like a rocket. There he was, standing at his command post with Dublin, ready for takeoff into outer space. Cody turned that table into a spaceship and he put it right into his drawing book. What an awesome idea. Now, just before it was time to go home with Jake, Cody wandered into a room that looked like a small office with a desk, a chair, and a safe. He could imagine being the boss of the mill who liked sitting at his desk, reading his morning paper, and drinking his coffee. As Cody sat there, he asked himself a question. Hmm, I wonder what really went on in this mill years ago. He didn't have any answers. The next afternoon, after Cody had visited the mill's office, he discovered a sea of creaky old stairs leading down into the basement. This set of stairs took him into the lower part way deep down in. Jake had not told him. He couldn't go down there. So when he opened the door to the basement stairs and turned on the lights, he was surprised to see a collection of dusty old machines gathered around each other. Instantly, he imagined he could hear their music worrying and buzzing as if they were playing together in an orchestra. Cody imagined himself to be the conductor as he waved his hands wildly in the air. Across from where the imaginary machine music was playing, Cody's eyes widened and he saw a large metal drum that was suspended from the ceiling. He peered down into what looked like a well while there was sparkling water all lit up by a light. He stood watching in amazement and imagined the fun that little mice might have had running about, peering into an eerie well in the basement years ago. Look at those jeweled little mice looking down. What did they think? Luckily, there was time for Cody to recall all his questions and drawings in his art book before it was time to head home for supper with Jake. Today, his curious mind wanted to add some facts about the mill to put into his art book. And facts are their thoughts about what really happened so far it's all been in his imagination. So as he walked along Mill Street heading home that day, Cody could see that Jake was tired. So he just asked him three questions. Jake, how old is the mill? And who owned it? What did men make in the mill? Years before you and I were born. Jake answered by saying, Cody, first, I learned that brothers named Charles and Frederick Schwab once owned the mill over 150 years ago. They made fancy oval frames on a wood. And you know what? I'm going to tell you more tomorrow because I'm really tired. Oh, that's fine. Answer Cody, but I still have some more questions for you. Before Jake started his work in the mill the next day, he knelt on the floor and he listened to more of Cody's questions about how milling machines were used to make the frames. Cody listened carefully as Jake began telling him how workers at the mill first made patterns for their oval frames. They traced them onto pieces of wood and then used machines to cut out the wood into four curved pieces. The ends of these pieces were cut into finger grooves that firmly fit together after they were glued at the gluing table. Then they used the tables with the metal wheels on them to tighten up the metal bands that were wrapped around the frames while the glue was drying. Finally, to give the frames a finished look, the workmen used large wooden blades that spun the frames around while tools were used to cut grooves into the wood. Cody listened carefully to Jake's frame making story. He thanked him and then suddenly he had a brilliant new idea. It was a memory game for Kib filled with photographs of the tables, the machines and the tools. He was so excited learning about them and now things began to make sense to him. All he needed was his camera. Each of the pictures would be cut out and pasted on paper showing two floors and the ground outside of the mill drawn like a map. So the following day, Cody was filled with excitement as he unpacked his camera. He began taking photographs of all the things in the mill. He needed for his game. Days later, Cody laid out all of his developed photos and started creating his old Schwab Mill memory game. Only one important part of the game was missing. Cody had not been allowed to go upstairs to the second floor. How? How is he ever going to finish his game? He thought he was stuck. Well, he wasn't. Because, luckily enough, just as Cody was working on his game, he saw a young girl named Suri from his class at school. She was climbing up the back stairs of the mill with her mother Meg. They were carrying Meg's artwork and a map of the mill that was soon going to be exhibited. Cody was excited to show them his art book and photos for his memory game. They were both very impressed by Cody's work and invited him to go upstairs with them. Suri could show him around. That would be okay, right? The invitation sounded just fine. So up they went to the second floor. From out behind a wonderful old wooden door upstairs, Cody spied all kinds of things that he could photograph. It felt nice to be with Suri, a friend finally, finally to be with who knew all about the mill. When they came to a set of large, round wooden legs displayed on the floor, they stopped and stood in front of them and stretched out their arms. They imagined that they were flying together on saucers in outer space. The fun had just begun when they passed a large picture of a lady named Patricia C. Fitzmorris. She was standing on the floor. Suri told Cody this lady and her friends saved the mill from closing up years ago. Oh, it almost wasn't there. Then the two friends came to a model of the mill and it's other buildings that had been made to remember how it looked years ago. They crouched down and peaked at the buildings from all angles. It was so interesting. They had so much fun talking about the old days, but they forgot to keep their eyes on Dublin. Oh, no, he was missing. This was trouble, maybe. But Suri and Cody started calling him, hey, Dublin, come here. Dublin. But then there he was peeking out from behind a special photograph of a man named David Graff who still makes frames at the mill. And then in a minute, Cody could hear a familiar whistle. It was Jake calling him from the first floor staircase. Oh, no, he might be in big trouble. So he tiptoed down the back stairs and escaped having to tell Jake where he was. He felt kind of bad, but he'd accomplished his mission. That night, as Cody was reading in bed, he had a terrible thought. Where? Oh, no, where'd he left his art book? He remembered he'd left it upstairs on the second floor of the mill. How could he ever get it back? He learned from Jake that the mill would be closed for two weeks. Cody went to bed that night feeling very sad and, you know, guilty. Several days when Cody was eating breakfast, there was an envelope that was left on the table next to his cereal bowl. He opened it up and found it was an invitation to Meg's art show and a young mystery artist. Who could that be? Well, on the night of the art show at the Old Schwab Mill, Cody was very excited to return to search for his art book. But when he passed musicians playing music on the first floor next to Meg's new map of the Old Schwab Mill, he had a clue who the young artist might be. Feeling very excited when Cody and his family entered the second floor gallery room, they couldn't believe what they saw standing before them. It was a display of Cody's drawings of the mill and photos for his memory game. They looked awesome and how did Cody's artwork ever move from his art book out into a larger than life pictures that everyone could see and admire? It was a mystery to be solved at a later time. Then, all at once, Suri Meg and a group of Cody's friends from school jumped out from one of the gallery rooms where they were hiding and began yelling, Yay, Cody, awesome Cody. And while holding up their hands, all the children promised to visit the new family room upstairs in the mill where they could have fun creating projects with Cody and play his new memory game. That night, Cody felt he had made more best friends at the Old Schwab Mill than he ever imagined. The end. So little bear, what do you think? Oh, that was awesome. I got every bit of it. I really did. He was a cool kid. Yeah, he was and you're a cool bear. But look, I want to know where how we can get to the mill. Well, let's tell the people. Right after this story, there's going to be a little trip that we're going to take to the mill and you're going to be able to go inside it. Hi, here we are at the Old Schwab Mill. We're really here. This is the place where the whole story of becoming best friends of the Old Schwab Mill took place. And we're going to go inside and you're going to see all the places where they make frames and you're going to learn a little bit about the history. And it's a wonderful place for kids and adults. So come on with a little bear. Ready a little bear? Yeah, come on, come on. All right, come on. Let's go inside. Okay, so this area is the entry to the mill, the welcoming center. And it's really nice for people to come and get an idea of the history of the mill and what happens here and all kinds of literature and pictures of how the frame are made here. And this is the place where this was the area but they've done it over where little Cody was lying down when he first came to the mill with his brother. Do you remember in that story? And what happened was he was bored silly and he didn't like hanging out here very much. So he decided to go look into the other part of the mill to see what was going on. So come on, let's go look. Little bear. This is the area of the mill that wasn't in the book but it's a really fun place. Can you see and turn around? Oh yeah, cool. Nice stuff for kids. Yeah, it's a place where kids can come and make things. Oh, can we come back and make something here? Well, maybe if they'll let us but do you remember in the story, the hat on the wall? Where? Right over there. Oh yeah, I see it. Well, it's right here in the book and you know what Cody did? He made a picture of himself in that hat and he imagined that it was a hat that was left by somebody who worked in the mill years ago. Oh, that's really cool. I like it. What's all this stuff? Well, this is wood, pieces of wood that have been put in these little shelves. So maybe if they need to make a frame, they pull out the right pieces. Wow. And then what's this over here? Well, this is an old piece of metal and they have wonderful things all around the mill to show what it was like in the old days and what it's like now. Do you like this? Yeah, I do. It's cool. Really cool. Okay, let's go to another place, all right? Okay, we're going to go right around the corner. There are all kinds of good machines and things. You like machines. Right, right. Okay, let's go. So little bear, guess what I found? What? Well, this was a table where Cody was starting to work. He was working at this table and he was doing all kinds of things. Remember, he was going to take photos of all these wonderful things up on the ceiling and he was going to turn them into magic objects. Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. I really do. It's really cool. There's so much to look at. I remember he did this. What did he do? He lay down and he started looking at all the things. Yep, he did and his head went round and round and it was fun, right? Oh, I love this place. There's so much to look at. I think I might go to sleep though. Okay, you go to sleep. Little bear, here we are in the office. We got to sneak in. Oh, what's in the office? Well, it's a place where they do a lot of fancy work and they have to keep the papers on the frames they made and if they got money, guess what would they would do? What if they put it in this safe, this big old safe here? And the man who was the owner or the director, he would sit right at this desk and look at, here's Cody sitting at the desk. Well, why is he there? Well, I put him there for the story. But look at all these wonderful things that people can come and look at an old picture of the mill and a fancy old chair where somebody sat maybe if they wanted to order a frame and then their frames on the wall. Oh, this is nice. I don't really get all of it, but kind of. Yep, kind of you do. But this was definitely a very special place that they have kept in the mill for people to see. Isn't that cool? A little scale old fashioned one. And here's a little model of the mill. Oh, I like that. Yeah, want to go upstairs? Yes, let's go upstairs. Let's see what's up there. Okay, let's go. Okay, we're going upstairs, little bear. Come on, everybody. They're all kinds of good things upstairs to look at. Come on, a little bear. We're up here at the table that Suri and Cody snuck up to. Remember he wasn't supposed to come up here? Yeah, I do. We're here? Yep, right there. You see the table and they're looking at all the things on it? Well, you can look at all the things that they saw. Look over here, these nice buildings. Somebody made this model years ago. And they're little tiny, tiny people over there. And they're bringing the wood into the mill to make the frames. And there's a pond out there. And I think that's the water that maybe spun the wheel to make the machines work. What about over here? Well, there's a little man and he's coming in with a wagon and horses. Oh, I like that. And here's some more water. All kinds of things. This is a beautiful, beautiful model. And you know what? It went all the way back to 1700. Do you know what that means? No way. No, you don't know. That's okay. The people who come here love history. And here's some more history over here on the wall. And there are things that people wrote. And there are little pamphlets and information about the mill and pictures about what it was like when they made the frames in the old days. Oh, this is great. But this is more for adults. Yeah, this is for the moms and the dads who come. But you like the place downstairs for the kids. Right, right. Let's go look at something else. Okay, let's go this way. And there's even more to see. Come on, little bear. Guess what? We're upstairs and there's all kinds of good stuff up here. Like what? Well, see this guy at the table? Yeah, what's he doing? He's over here because he wanted to make friends with you. Oh, I like him already. Well, you know what? He doesn't talk. But his name is Humperdink the Moose. Oh, he's funny. Can you talk? Nope, he doesn't talk. Can you move? Let's see. You're going to roll him over. He just wants to sit here with you because there were no animals on this journey. And I thought it would be fun to invite him to come. Oh, me too. Well, do you remember in the story? Yeah. When Cody had his art exhibit, it was up here and he had his beautiful pictures all over the walls. And now they aren't here, but they're these beautiful pictures of art. Beautiful pieces. Oh, nice. Who did them? You want to know? Well, I don't know them. I know, but they're beautiful. And this is the kind of thing that you will see when you come to the mill. Parents will and kids will. In fact, what? Next week, there's going to be, no, in two weeks. On May 6th, there's going to be a storytelling event here. And you and I are going to be here. It's all going to be about fairies. Oh, you have to tell me more. I will, I will. But right now, look at the beautiful pictures. Oh, I like them. I want to come back here again. There's lots of stuff. Yup, all year long. There's music outside and inside and concert. And I think a little dancing and fun. And oh, that's great. I love this mill. Yeah, I do too. And I hope all of you will come to the mill and become best friends of the old Schwab Mill. Want to? Okay, let's put you back here with your little guy. And you just sit right there. Okay? All right. You wait. Bye, guys. Bye, everybody. Come back to the mill. It's a wonderful place.