As everyone who reads what I write knows, I love many of the buildings and bridges in Pittsburgh. There's a small building I've never written about, though. If you stand at the big intersection of Fifth Avenue and Bellefield Street you will see a small and squat black building. This belongs to the university now, but when I was growing up this building was the home of WQED, the first educational television station in the United States, and the children in Pittsburgh were the first to watch Mr. Rogers.

In 1954 people were just beginning to buy televisions. In our family, one of my mother's cousins bought one and the family would visit this cousin to watch the comedy shows. When I was four, however, my parents bought a television of their own. We had four stations, one of which was channel 13, WQED, and for a half hour every weekday (I think) I watched Around the Children's Corner, Fred Rogers' first children's television show.

When Around the Children's Corner first made its debut, Mr. Rogers wasn't seen. There was a young woman named Josey Carey who talked to those beloved characters: Daniel Striped Tiger, Hoot the Owl who lived in a knothole in a tree, Henrietta the Cat, King Friday the 13th, Lady Elaine Fairchild. There were more later of course but these are the five I remember best from that time. We hardly knew who Mr. Rogers was then. At the age of four it's hard to figure these things out.

Daniel Striped Tiger lived in a clock and spoke French words. He had a high-pitched voice and he sang a song called I Don't Growl Anymore, I'm Tame. From Daniel we learned the days of the week in French and how to tell time. Hoot the Owl sang I Give A Hoot For You and attended OCS--Owl Correspondence School. Four year olds don't know what correspondence school is; this was something strictly for the parents who watched with their children. And then there was shy Henrietta the Cat who wore pink dresses and said only three words: telephone, beautiful, and Misterogers.

King Friday the 13th was another kettle of fish. Deep-voiced, noble, he didn't talk as much as he made pronouncements. He had a little bird on a stick, a mockingbird he called "Mocking." He sang a song about today being "Mocking's Birthday," but he sang this song many times over. Finally there was Lady Elaine Fairchild who liked to take long walks using the "heel-toe" method she created herself.

I can remember most of the words of all the songs from that show; I can also remember a kind of plastic shield you could order from WQED that fit on the television screen to use when you watched Around the Children Corner. I can't remember the purpose of this but my mother got one for me and it was all very exciting. I think this plastic shield helped in learning how to tell the time and learn new words.

So much has been written about Fred Rogers. He went from being a very young superbly creative man with firm ideas about what children liked to a beloved international figure who represented kindness and gentleness and sense. I read his book on child rearing when I had Michael and his ideas were very helpful to me and Michael.

Why did these simple characters created by Fred Rogers, along with the songs they sang, resonate so deeply with so many children? Maybe when Daniel the tiger sang about not growling anymore and being tame it calmed the normal fears of young children? There are probably a lot of theories about how Fred Rogers was able to accomplish what he did, but they don't matter now. It's simple; he and his characters inspired love. They opened the door to a world of understanding and learning and peace.

As Hoot the Owl says:

Oh I give a hoot for you;
'Cause golly golly you're neat.
I give a hoot for you;
You simply couldn't be beat.

and as Josey Carey sang:

Oh a little birdie told me
he said no one would scold me
If I would just be happy every minute of the day.
He said Stop that silly squealing
Find yourself a happy feeling
Decide that you'll be happy
every minute of the day.
So I found myself a smile
and attached it in a hurry.
Now I'm smiling all the while
I've forgotten how to worry-
Scurry out and find that robin
and quit your sighs and sobbin'
decide that you'll be happy
every minute of today.