Down the Snow Stairs

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Sue Vincent

northagain 073It has been a weekend of inclement weather. When the Siberian winds finally dropped, the snow fell, closing roads and making even the shortest journey hazardous.

Snow always takes me back to childhood, even when it is inconvenient or the conditions on the roads become downright scary. There is a magical quality to the silence and purity that blankets the world and that feeling seems to override any memory of the impracticality or frustration heavy snow can bring.

Two of the first ‘proper’ books that I remember lsitening to when I was a child feature snow. One was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, which must be one of the best loved children’s books around. The other is far less well-known these days.

I remember being curled up against my mother, probably way too young for the horrors of the story by today’s standards. I listened entranced as Kitty took the journey from Good-night to Good-morning on Christmas Eve. The book was ‘Down the Snow Stairs’ by Alice Corkran.

Gordon Browne, Down the Snow Stairs, Alice Corkran 1The book left an indelible imprint on my mind. Many years have passed since my mother had first read the words of an earlier century to me. I hadn’t seen the faded blue-green cover with its evocative, gilded picture since my childhood, yet so well did I remember it, that a chance find a couple of years ago had me pouncing on the copy, exactly the same edition as the one I remembered.

It was published in 1887 and is the kind of Victorian moral tale that can give a child nightmares. Goblins and strange creatures personify all the ‘crimes’ of childhood as Kitty, having thoughtlessly caused her little brother’s illness, journeys through a landscape where she sees all her faults brought to life in the Land of Naughty Children. She sees the great spiders weave the Webs of Lies that entrap children, watches those who are lost in the Maze of Disobedience, and weeps for the frozen children who chant a litany of ‘Me-me-me,’ grasping with icy fingers at anything they can, taking it only so that no-one else may do so, yet finding no pleasure in aught they touch.

Gordon Browne, Down the Snow Stairs, Alice Corkran 2It is near the end of her journey that she meets Love, she who can give the Kiss of Forgiveness and set them free. Love shows Kitty the beautiful guardian child and the playful sprite of temptation that accompany all children and shows her the star that will guide her home. Kitty, however, plays with the sprite and listens to its promptings, meeting many more strange creatures… like I and Myself, a child and the image of himself that he has created and which occupies all his attention.

At last she listens once too often to the sprite, obeying the whispers of temptation and her guardian child fades and withdraws. It is only when Kitty realises her error and gives the child her absolute trust that the guardian can return, called back by Love.

Though the tale might well be dated and seems to heap the guilt of sin upon the head of Kitty and the other children who disobey the strict Victorian code, there is loving forgiveness too and the chance to try again. Persistence and perseverance, courage and wonder are the lingering taste of the story for me. Gordon Browne, Down the Snow Stairs, Alice CorkranThe illustrations by Gordon Browne stayed with me, the pictures as familiar now as they were so many years ago. Yet beyond the dated pictures are other images, even stronger, imprinted on the pages of the imagination that carried a deeper message. The book addresses aspects of childhood behaviour, and misbehaviour, yet the analogy to the way we can lose sight of our innermost self in the distractions of the world, even as adults, is a strong one.

Fairytales and children’s stories are sanitised today, their horror is removed or softened in a Disney-esque manner to safeguard small minds from traumatic images.

Quite apart from the symbolic meanings of many of these stories, such tales once served a purpose, allowing children to face the very real nightmares of life within the safe environment of a mother’s arms and within the pages of a book.

Oddly enough, although I remembered the story and the images I formed in my mind of Kitty’s journey, it was not the gothic horror of Victoriana that made its mark. What remained with me above all was the idea of that beautiful guardian child… the inner child of the universe… a voice of clarity born of Love that always knows the way Home.

About Sue Vincent

Sue Vincent was a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and a Director of The Silent Eye. She was immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintained a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lived in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She had a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. Sue  passed into spirit at the end of March 2021.
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41 Responses to Down the Snow Stairs

  1. depatridge says:
    March 5, 2018 at 06:06

    Great plot and quite imaginative, I thought.

    Liked by 2 people

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  2. Pingback: Down the Snow Stairs | Matthews' Blog

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  4. Darlene says:
    March 5, 2018 at 07:09

    How wonderful that you found a vintage copy of your beloved book. Books can make such a difference in a child´s life which forms their adult life as well.

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. jenanita01 says:
    March 5, 2018 at 08:12

    How wonderful to find the very book you loved as a child, Sue, and I loved the me, myself, poem!
    I have been searching for the illustrated copy of Jane Eyre that both thrilled me and frightened me to death all those years ago, with no luck.

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  7. memadtwo says:
    March 5, 2018 at 12:17

    My daughters and I were just wondering last night if Pippi Longstocking is still OK to read to children. Pretty soon there will be nothing left that’s acceptable. (K)

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  8. Jennie says:
    March 5, 2018 at 12:44

    How we see the story as a child is far different than how we see the same story as an adult. You were left with what the story was intended to impart. I’m halfway through a post on my mother’s Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

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  9. fransiweinstein says:
    March 5, 2018 at 14:30

    I think it would serve humanity well if that book was required reading for everyone — children and especially adults — today. I’d love to read it. I am going to see if I can get it through the library.

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  10. bobcabkings says:
    March 5, 2018 at 14:35

    When I think of stories of snow and childhood, the first to come to mind is “A Child’s Christmas In Wales” by Dylan Thomas, especially his own reading of it.

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  11. D. Wallace Peach says:
    March 5, 2018 at 19:43

    What a lovely conclusion to your post, Sue. I remember those old grisly fairy tales with the gorgeous illustrations and their stern morality. But like you, what stuck with me were the beautiful parts, the magic and the goodness, which always prevailed. ❤

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  12. willowdot21 says:
    March 5, 2018 at 22:43

    I understand why you have fond memories of this book, so strange that sometimes so scary is for children. I remember reading Tom’s midnight Garden, I loved that book and also The Snow Queen. The Snow Queen always frightened me!

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  14. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    March 6, 2018 at 04:11

    My Uncle Jack was a lithographer — printer, not an artist. But I had stacks of these books as a kid and I remember less the contents than the smell of the illustrations. And the feel of those engraved covers. This brought back memories because I think it’s possible I still have some of them. I have to go and look in my forgotten bookcases.

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  15. patriciaruthsusan says:
    March 6, 2018 at 11:41

    The author would probably sit in horror if they saw all the temptations children have today. 😦 — Suzanne

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