Christmas Eve Fable Comes to Life in
Gloucester<
by
Marilyn Loeser
 Tucked away near the
Gloucester Cathedral wall is the tiny tailor shop Beatrix Potter used as the
model for the illustrations she drew
 for The Tailor of
Gloucester, a children's novel first published in October 1903.
Traditionally read to children on Christmas Eve, just before bed time, the
story tells of a tailor who falls ill and is unable to complete an important
commission. When he returns to his shop, however, it is to find the
waistcoat completed.
The idea
for the book came from a story Potter heard from her cousin about a tailor
helped by his human friends.
 In her book, Potter tells
the story of a poor tailor, his cat and the mice that live in his shop. He
has many scraps of cloth and ribbons left over that are too small for any
practical use. The mice take these and make fine
 clothes for themselves. The
tailor sends his cat Simpkin to buy food and a twist of cherry-colored silk
for a coat the mayor has commissioned for his wedding, which will take place
on Christmas morning.
While
the cat is gone, he frees the mice from teacups where Simpkin has imprisoned
them. When Simpkin returns and finds his mice gone, he hides the twist in
anger. {place beatrix potter 1 photo here}
The
tailor falls ill and the mice save the day by completing the coat. <
 The picturesque building
the story is set in is virtually unchanged from Beatrix Potter's time and is
currently open. Beatrix Potter memorabilia is sold here and there is a small
museum in the writer’s honor on the second floor.
Born in
1866, Potter lived in a privileged household and throughout her lifetime
became a famous author, illustrator and conservationist.
Raised
by governesses, Potter grew up isolated from other children. She had
numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland
and the Lake District where she developed a love of landscape,
flora and fauna, and painted what she observed.
 As a young woman her
parents discouraged her intellectual development, but her study and
paintings ability led her to be widely respected in the field of botany.
Potter
published her first children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit in her 30s, and
became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne. Warne died before
the wedding could take place.
 She eventually published
23 children's books and, having become financially independent of her
parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District,
which she extended with other purchases over time. In her 40s she married a
local solicitor, William Heelis.
Potter
died in 1943, and left almost all of her property to her husband who, after
his death in 1945, left it to The National Trust in order to preserve the
beauty of the Lake District as she had
known it, protecting it from developers.
http://www.tailor-of-gloucester.org.uk
http://www.hop-skip-jump.com/
http://www.openroads.com/beatrix-potter-attractions.html
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