I was pretty young, probably pre-school, when we would visit the Troy Public Library. It was about a 20 minute drive from where we lived in Wynantskill, NY. I remember sitting in the Children's Room and staring at a scene from the story Gulliver's Travels that was high up on the wall.
In my fuzzy memory, it was a mural. But last month I visited "home." While I was there, I stopped at the Troy Public Library to donate a copy of Searching for Spice. And guess what? The picture isn't a mural, it's a large portrait.
As you can see, it sits on the mantel of a fireplace. It's still much as I remember it.
When I went into the library, I walked into the Children's Room and was very sad not to find the Gulliver's Travels picture that I remembered there. I toured the rest of that beautiful library and then happened to mention my disappointment to a librarian. She stopped what she was doing and led me right to it.
The Children's Room is actually two rooms. That, I didn't remember. There is a fireplace on your left as you walk in, but if you walk to the end of the room there's a door that leads to a room on the other side of that wall. That room has a matching fireplace and the portrait of Gulliver's Travels.
I tell you, I was so happy to see that portrait. Yes, I was.
