Two and Twenty, Three Times Six, Eleven and Eleven

Mrs. Julia E. Wolfe "She had dressed for this occasion with great care." 20 Two and Twenty, Three Times Six, Eleven and Eleven Reprinted by permission of Saturday Review On November 30, 1945, Mrs. Julia Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe's mother, made her last public appearance in John Skally Terry's English class at New York University . Ruth Davis, a member of the class, took down in shorthand what Mrs. Wolfe had to say. Before her words were printed in the old Saturday Review of Literature, January 5, 1946, Mrs. Wolfe was dead at eighty-five. Ms. Davis described Mrs. Wolfe as folhws "She had dressed for this occasion with great care. Her hlack dress was her best. Behind the unrevealing folds, her spare, angular body was alive with quick and restless energy. Underneath her hem, which just grazed her ankle bones, we could see two highly polished shoes with sharp points resolutely facing the class. Her When asked my age, I say I'm three times six, four times seven, two times nine, eleven ande leven. You know when I get with young people they are all my friends. I have met them all over the world and they are all admirers of Tom. They do not think of me—they think, "She is Tom's mother," and that is why I want to come. Way back when Tom was living, I took John Terry as one of my boys. He has no mother so I think he will accept me as his mother — maybe his grandmother. I will ensemble was finished off with a triple strand of pearls, white gloves, a tiny black hat with fust à suggestion of a veil. For color, she had pinned a big red rose on her left shoulder. When called upon by her son's biographer , Professor Terry, she stood up promptly as if called upon to recite. Her facial expression was defiantly young; her vibrant voice was softened yet not slowed by her Southern way of speech. Her small brown eyes took in the cL·-^ through old-fashioned spectacles. She was truly what others have said since her sudden death, 'the tireless fountain of folk tales, reminiscence, and anecdote that fed the literary stream of her son' and she, like her son, died in the midst of life—even though she was eighty-five'' talk to you as I talk to John, in everyday, simple language. I think John ought to take me as one of his pupils. I'd like to join his class. Out in Hollywood I was on a program called "You're Never Too Old." I think I can learn today. I can't boast of a university education but I made up my mind that Tom would get what I didn't have. And I'm glad I gave it to him. I was invited to a luncheon at a university club down to St. Petersburg last winter. I never belonged to a university club. There was about 100 people there. o^S) 21 Dr. Mooney was the speaker of the e veiling —a very fine lecturer—he lectured on Woodrow Wilson, Stalin, and Roosevelt. He said Stalin was a great leader; he told of the education and finally he wound up about Abraham Lincoln. He said, "Abe Lincoln was like Mrs. Wolfe. Neither had the advantage of a university education." Everyone when he got up said what university and state he represented but when I got up I said I couldn't represent any university. I only wanted to represent Tom. Dr. Mooney said, "Abe Lincoln and Mrs. Wolfe did things — went further than a great many who had an education." Perhaps if I had your advantages in my time I might have accomplished something. Well I don't know, maybe being the mother of Tom Wolfe helped to make up for what I failed to be otherwise. You know I went out to Hollywood. They're making a picture of Look Homeward Angel. I had the time of my life there. I met so many people, my time was taken up all the time. Hardly had time to sleep. Many wrote me from nearby towns. They...