Ingest the Wisdom of Linus With Help Stamp Out Things That Need Stamping Out

Like most people I know, I consider Renaissance Beagle Snoopy my favorite character in Charles Schulz’s classic comic strip Peanuts. He’s so dynamic and entertaining, and I can certainly relate to his frustrations with rejection letters. When it comes to the humans, however, I tend to gravitate less toward the round-headed kid, despite my empathy for the slings and arrows that outrageous fortune sends Charlie Brown’s way, than his younger friend with the striped shirt. Linus Van Pelt is an anxious lad who is prone to philosophizing. Indeed, the two qualities often go together because thinking too much has a tendency to make one jittery. Just take a look at LOST’s frazzled physicist Faraday. Or me.

Given my love of Linus, I was tickled when, after a recent visit with my grandma, my dad brought home a tiny book that his brother had given him years ago. Entitled Help Stamp Out Things That Need Stamping Out (And Other Philosophical Gems of Linus), the green hardcover gift book published by Hallmark in 1969 is slim and pocket-sized. Within it are 11 “chapters,” each four pages long and each headed by a title beginning with the word “on.” For instance, the title, which goes with the cover image of Linus holding a picket sign featuring these words, is from “On Being Specific” and is Linus’s response to Lucy’s complaint that his sign slogan, “Help Stamp Out Things,” is too vague.

Each title rests in a box with a thin red border at the top of the first panel in the cartoon. Each page is a panel unto itself, so you’re really just getting 11 individual cartoons. The book is also rather lacking in the eye-catching department, with black and red the only colors aside from the green of the cover. Red only appears in the characters’ clothes, so at least we don’t have red grass making everything look arid, but Charlie Brown’s signature yellow shirt looks a little funny in cinnamon. Additionally, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Violet are the only characters who appear in the book with Linus, so there’s not a whole lot of variety.

Still, you can certainly get an idea of these three characters’ personalities, particularly the forceful Lucy, who displays openly antagonistic behavior to Linus in four of the sections. Most of all, you get a good sense of Linus, who is jumpy at some times, wise beyond his years at others and always intent and curious about the world around him. He can be a bit of a smart-aleck, which isn’t such a good idea when his sister is such a hot-head, but his superior intelligence is due not only to his immersion in books but to his willingness to experiment. Does a smile really make a good umbrella? What is the ideal temperature to bring out the optimum flavor in a thumb?

Many of the observations that form the punch line of each section are quite quotable. I think my favorite is, “I don’t like to do anything that interferes with my not doing anything!” Who hasn’t had such a thought when an unwanted chore interferes with a lazy afternoon? And everyone would do well to remember Linus’s disgruntled resolution, “I’ve got to stop this business of talking without thinking.” With everyday topics ranging from Mixing Categories and Interruptions to Home Remedies and Good Judgment, the book is bound to resonate with most readers at least once. For me, it’s frequent. This little collection of wit and wisdom is only one of a dozen released by Hallmark in the 1960s. I hope I come across more of them; this may not be a very extensive collection, but every cartoon is right on target.