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8. On Sabbatical
- University of Nebraska Press
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'() . On Sabbatical ed(+cWo'./( at *:)& p.m. the SS eki[J^Wj@WYa8k_bj for his birthday. He loved to hear his mother read the rhythmic, repetitive words. Just before Christmas Alice reflected on her own past and on her current struggles with her children. She tried to control her character, writing to her aunt Nannie: You used to be so cheerful and I remember you and Mother laughing together—what about I didn’t know but it was all the more delightful for the vague sense I had of our situation being by no means a light or amusing one. . . . [Y]et the “sphere” in the house was always a cheerful one. It has come to mean more than anything else to me. As I look backward I am so grateful to Mother and you two dear Aunts for never clouding our lives as I fear I do my children’s and so I resolve anew to give up the struggle to accomplish this or that and try to be a more tranquil, cheerful mother and daughter and niece and keep a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and sympathize. It is a better ideal, for me, and it comes to me as one more good gift from those to whom I owe so much.68 On Christmas Day the children had stockings in the sitting room, which Alice had decorated with mistletoe and Vallombrosa holly she had purchased '), ediWXXWj_YWb for thirty cents.69 She described their celebration to Eliza Gibbens: “After coffee we came into the sitting room where the children had hung up their stockings. Peggy had a tea-set, a toy watch, three books[,] a fancy basket of candy, the little turquoise ring I have had so long (just fits her)[,] a straw hat for her doll and a pretty work basket from Miss Loring. The baby had a Noah’s ark, blocks, two lumps of sugar which filled up the measure of his contentment. The boys had candy and two books a piece and I had a lovely ring from William, three beautiful perles.” Though William would not go, she took the children to Christmas service at the American church, but the altars and bowing priests offended her Protestant sensibilities.70 During her six months in Italy Alice’s good nature and empathy endeared her to expatriates and visitors alike. As if she had not given enough already to her family, she gave generously of herself to these virtual strangers. She needed a community of friends, even if they were sometimes demanding, to offset her constant family duties. Frank Duveneck, the husband of William ’s old Newport friend Lizzie Boott, who had died in '..., called, as well as artist Frank Loring and his sister Mary. Even Mark Twain dined with them.71 They found him delightful company and wished he lived in Cambridge. Alice celebrated the New Year by throwing a dinner party, inviting the Lorings, Baron Ostensacken, and Harvard graduate and art collector Charles Loeser. When she had the time and the means, Alice entertained brilliantly. She managed to produce Japanese umbrellas to screen the lamps, red skirts for the candles, and a flower arrangement for the table. The dinner was served by a servant hired for the evening. The gala went on until after eleven at night, and William hadn’t made her dinner any more impossible than he made anything else, she thought.72 Still struggling with her weight, Alice continued to diet, but that did not prevent her from hosting dinners.73 She did not expect others to follow her extreme weight-loss regimes.74 In February she promised her husband she would try to improve her appearance: “You know your good theory of music becoming harmful in so far as its appeal to the emotions bears no fruit? I found myself resolving Saturday night, as I listened to Beethoven’s Serenades—a perfect succession of young raptures—that I would no more offend you with black clothes, even if I do make a mountain of myself.”75 That winter the Jameses’ regular circle included Mrs. Elizabeth “Bessie” [54.224.52.210] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:12 GMT) ediWXXWj_YWb ')Glendower Evans, widow of Glendower Evans, a lawyer and William’s student during the '.-&s. Bessie had energetically taken up varied social causes after her husband’s death: reform schools, child labor laws, socialist movements, labor movements, and feminist issues. She also had a real interest in philosophy. She loved...