Wa-a-alter. Wa-a-lter, come here this very minute!” Just such a call as this once sent Walter Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, scampering to his mother’s side. Every boy who’s ever been in mischief -— and what boy hasn’t? -— has heard his mother’s indignant voice call out to him.
On this particular occasion, five-year-old Walter found his mother surveying the outside of their modest white frame house on a farm near Marceline, Missouri. She and Mr. Disney had just returned from town.
“Walter, who did this?” she demanded, pointing to the once-white walls of the house. Her eyes were fixed on zig-zagging marks of black tar, some shaped like houses, others like people.
Always truthful, young Walt immediately claimed ownership. Even if his parents didn't, he thought they were good. To him they looked like houses and people.
Now, as Mr. and Mrs. Elias F. Disney, his parents, think back, they believe this incident first served to draw their attention to the fact that one of their four sons liked to draw. So after that Walter made drawing his hobby. At every opportunity he drew picture after picture, and his parents helped and encouraged him. And everyone knows of his success today.
[…]
