No. 73

Chas. in 1884 in Line

Stewart King c/o

John C. Davant, Attorney

501 Cleveland St.

Clearwater Florida

December 22, 1939

Dear Stewart,

We read this letter knowing what became of the situation of Charles, who was about to turn 40 years old, waiting for word about the job, his being hired as a railway postal clerk. But at the time, this moment, he was watching for the mails from the other side of the line, watching the clerks toss the bags with heavy interest and to find out if the bags held good news.

At this time, in 1895, as I enjoyed reading about Charles in 1884, but your mother, how good she was to me, decided that some investment must be made into my own career. Your mother gave me some articles by Maria Parloa. I devoured them, when I could understand them. The Parloa manual would be published a few years later, and il was to offer me a line of hope, a grace. For it allowed your mother and me to look at objective truth, this reference, and whenever we had a disagreement, though rare, about how to treat fabrics, we turned to the authority and mastered compliance, which took out the wind in our opinions, and we could again become friends, cooperating with our Lord in the problems of the day. How relieved I was to find a line of authority.

July 19, 1884

Dear M--, Father made the morning train with spirits steady. Boy Henry wants to keep and attend to the farm after all. Upon hearing this, Father took more time with projects and “home improvement” ventures with the boy. So, the dream sealed. Next in line is Father's recovery. Send only good news to him, Sister. But I now have an entirely new cross. In the end, Esther moody. Father at last saw it in her. She wandered off, looking for two waif children, claiming to be her set of twins. Tried to convince Father that it was temporary. Failed at that. Says Esther needs committed. Before he left, he visited Senator Allison and reps from office of Congressman Henderson, but still no news from Dubuque. I wait in line for good news myself. Yours, affectionately -- Chas

Your mother said that the old family had so many ties to the private orphanage in Bath, and she had started to pray that the girls be sent to a school far away from the general, common orphans. There was even an orphanage a few miles from where Charles was living at the time. She said that the orphan home in Bath was better. In Bath they followed a strict curriculum for financial success of the girls. The travel and change of scenery would not traumatize the children at all, but it would allow the girls to know the Brother Family and keep Charles coming home to visit them. It would provide a serene estate with elaborate grounds, plus access to the Davenport Family, even if only for a reference, but more likely so much more. Plus, Charles wanted the girls avoid influence of Esther’s kin. And so, your mother started to write to her relatives and connections in Bath for possible placement.

Boy Henry, however, was another story. If he wanted a farmer's life, he would have to work with Esther's father, another risk but Charles could only deal with one problem at a time.

I asked, “So he knew he would have to give up his rights to parent? It wasn’t just a school?”

“It was a good education, a total uplift and break from parents would benefit the pupil,” she said, adding that this is why her own sons were sent to boarding school.

“Besides,” she said, “A clerk in his line could not attend to his family or his farm--he was on the line. It's not as if he could refuse good money, oh Minnie, you are too romantic! You’re almost as useless as he is—you have no mind for these situations.”

But she never answered me if he was told, in advance of the decision, that did he would have to cut off legal ties to his girls. But was he given special treatment for his many friends in Bath?

--Miss Minnie

2025 Copyright Christine Friesel