Seckatary Hawkins The Gray Ghost book, and Stoner's Boy are frequently quoted references within the famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written and published in 1960 by Seckatary Hawkins club member Harper Lee of Monroeville, Alabama. A particular quote from Stoner's Boy is the reference for the closing moral lesson that completes this famous novel. School teachers always ask their students - "Do you know why Harper Lee chose a Seckatary Hawkins story to illustrate this ending?"
References to the Seckatary Hawkins books and stories:
In the first chapter, page 18, it appears that the visiting boy, Dill, and Scout's brother Jem have a mutual interest in Seckatary Hawkins due to the dare and bet of a "The Gray Ghost" book. Dill bets Jem a "Gray Ghost" against two Tom Swift's, that Jem won't get by the front gate, but later ...Dill concedes that he will cancel the dare and swap The Gray Ghost if Jem will just touch the spooky house of Boo Radley.
There is a very similar hollow tree hiding place in the Seck Hawkins magazine story called The Rejiment, where the boys hid all their "good stuff". Rifle, slingshot,etc..
Harper Lee chooses to end her book with the moral lessons of Seckatary Hawkins by quoting from The Gray Ghost book, and using the parallel to make her point. Pages 254-255:
"Atticus was in Jem's room, sitting by his bed. He was reading a book...'Whatcha readin'?' I asked. Atticus turned the book over. 'Something of Jem's. Called The Gray Ghost. I was suddenly awake. 'Why'd you get that one?' 'Honey, I don't know. Just picked it up. One of the few things I haven't read', he said pointedly. 'Read it out loud, please, Atticus. It's real scary.' 'No', he said. 'You've had enough scaring for a while. This is too--' 'Atticus, I wasn't scared....Besides, nothin's real scary except in books.' ...He took his thumb from the middle of the book and turned back to the first page. I moved over and leaned my head against his knee. 'H'mm,' he said. 'The Gray Ghost, by Seckatary Hawkins. Chapter One...' I willed myself to stay awake, but the rain was so soft and the room was so warm and his voice was so deep and his knee was so snug that I slept....'Heard every word you said', I muttered. '...wasn't asleep at all. 's about a ship an' Three-Fingered Fred 'n' Stoner's Boy...' ...'Yeah, an' they all thought it was Stoner's Boy messin' up their clubhouse an' throwin' ink all over it an'...' ...'An' they chased him 'n' never could catch him 'cause they didn't know what he looked like, an' Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things...Atticus, he was real nice...' His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. 'Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.' He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."
Curiously, Scout must have been more asleep than she thought, The Gray Ghost story does mention Seck's blotter having the ink bottle spilled by 3 fingered Fred, but no scattering of papers; however, the tearing up and scattering of books around the club house appears in the first sequel, Stoner's Boy p51. Stoner's also describes a snow fort being "messed up". So, several Seckatary Hawkins books were obviously available to read in that household - the Seckatary books actually belonged to Harper Lee's brother.
The To Kill a Mockingbird Movie
The only mention of Seckatary in the movie version was when the visiting boy, Dill bets a
"Gray Ghost" against two Tom Swift's, in a rather different circumstance. This appears in
Chapter one of the book, but seems a little later in the movie version. Jem's touch to the
Radley house is also different, using Scout in an old tire that rolls to the Radley porch
steps. After saving Scout, Jem runs up and touches the house. This movie editing omission
is an unfortunate loss to the viewer since the ending of the movie makes no mention of the
moral lesson of Seckatary's Gray Ghost or Stoner's Boy books. If one does not read the To
kill a Mockingbird book, one will miss the final moral impact that the Seckatary reference
affords.
A good reference site for Harper Lee:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/culture/mockingbird/
Seckatary spinner - reads Fair & Square when spinning.
DID YOU KNOW?
*There were Seckatary Hawkins clubs with several million members reported
during the radio broadcasts from the Chicago Merchandise Mart in 1929-30. Midwest
newspapers ran the weekly stories and comic strips as late as 1954. There were also comic
books, board games, club pins / pennants / coins / spinners / bookends, etc
*There is citation of the Seckatary Hawkins stories, Gray Ghost book, and is the quoted
reference of the closing moral lesson in the famous novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird",
written and published in 1960 by Seckatary Hawkins club member Harper Lee of Monroeville,
Alabama.
