Mike and Mary Anne

I came across an article the other day (see "Why Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Still Charms All Ages" by Janice Harayda) about the children's book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel that I vividly remember from my childhood.  

It's an old book - I was surprised to learn that it was actually written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton in 1939.  I'm not sure if the book is still as popular today, but I know that my own kids enjoyed reading it too.  According to a 2007 online poll by the National Education Association, the book is listed as one of the "Teacher's Top 100 Books for Children."  

The story is about Mike Mulligan, owner of Steam Shovels, Inc and his steam shovel, which he affectionately named Mary Anne (whose name is apparently a reference to the real life Marion Power Shovel Company).  Mike Mulligan used to brag that Mary Anne "could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week" (though he had never proven this).  Mike and Mary Anne soon face competition from more modern gasoline, electric, and diesel-powered shovels, and so they end up finding work in a small town that wants to build a new town hall.  Mike offers to dig the cellar in a single day, even though the town's selectmen think that it would take 100 men the entire week to do so!  He even goes as far as saying that if Mary Anne doesn't finish the work in a day, the town won't have to pay them.  

Everyone has doubts, including Mike.  But in the end, Mary Anne finishes the job in a single day!  Unfortunately, Mike forgot to build a ramp to get Mary Anne out.  No one knows what to do, but eventually a little boy suggests that they could build the new town hall around Mary Anne, converting her into the boiler.  Mike Mulligan could then be the janitor.  And that's just what happened in the end!

It's a wonderful story, and reading it again after so many years brought back a lot of memories.  I guess I never thought that the story could be a metaphor for technological change!  Samuel Arbesman wrote an article for The Atlantic entitled, "Lessons About the iPhone, Courtesy of a Depression-Era Children's Book".  As Arbesman writes, "In Mike Mulligan, inexorable technological progress renders Mary Anne an outdated machine...but Mike Mulligan simply can't bear to get rid of his beloved Mary Anne, even when the rest of the steam shovels are discarded."  

Mike and Mary Anne have one last hurrah, and then they get to spend the rest of their days together doing something completely different.  It's a happy ending after all.  As so often happens, there's a deeper meaning in this simple story from a classic story book.  Perhaps technological change doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.  Maybe there's an opportunity to re-use or re-purpose the old technology for something different.