C.C. Peabody (the initials stand for Cave Canom) might have continued being the world's least-known genius if, a couple of years ago, he hadn't decided to adopt a boy. There was nothing unusual about the boy, but there was about Peabody himself. He was-and is-a dog.
Of course, the newspapers made a great deal of the story, and the judge's decision-that if a boy can have a dog, there's no reason why a dog can't have a boy-has passed into legal parlance as the Peabody Precedent.
But Peabody was a dog of parts long before he met his boy Sherman. As a youth, he was what he refers to modestly as "just and average genius." When he was three years old, he received his doctor's degree from Harvard, graduating wagna cum laude. His dissertation was a masterly study of "The Fireplug and Its Influence on Mass Culture."
After Harvard, he spent some time in the foreign service. Peabody speaks eight languages fluently, including Gaelic, which he learned in one weekend with an Irish Setter, and Upper Swahili, which he invented.
Later, he took on a few projects for the government, including the development of the first projectile designed to knock down a missile aimed at an anti-missile missile-the famous Peabody anti-anti-missile-missile missile missile.
After his government service, he dabbled in the stock market, with his most brilliant stroke-introducing Ramo to Woolridge-brought him the sobriquet of "The Woof of Wall Street."
In later times-which he refers to with a refreshing lack of coyness as the Golden Age of Peabody-he has invented a kind of time machine called the Waybac, which he uses to exercise Sherman. After all, it's so difficult to raise a boy in an apartment. Between trips in the Waybac, Peabody practices both yoga and judo, writes sonnets in Sanskrit, and composes twelve-tone duets for swinette and glockenspiel.
Cultural Impacts
Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman promoted General Mills Wheat Hearts sometime between 1959 and 1970.