No. 78

Chas. in 1885 Transferred

Stewart King c/o

John C. Davant, Attorney

501 Cleveland St.

Clearwater Florida

December 30, 1938

Dear Stewart,

This telegram from Charles Brother:

Dec 7, 1885 —Dear M--Transferred to Sioux City. New exams. What to do with the children?

At this time I was reading the letters and imagining the life of your uncle Charles, how I would have loved to have helped him, if I had known him then, to smooth things out for him, and your mother about this time was sometimes taking too much of the DeWitt medicine, which made her sleepy, and I was not strong enough to ask her to try to reduce the amount or at least the frequency.

I wanted to ask her straight, “But why did you not consider taking in the children?”

I would get batted away just for the thought. Anyway, why should I not be batted away? It was not my family, not my concern. And yet I found my praying for Charles, and it would help him, my praying, to have more details, or so I thought. More than wanting to be a saint, I did not want to be separated from your family, my only hope for confidence and comfort.

Esther’s youngest babe was of course not trained to use the facilities. Your mother said that she was finally done with you, in the bathroom training department, and said, “Stewart took so very long to get the trick of it, so trying on my patience it was. He kept wanting to be picked up, right when he was wet, and always right when I was leaving to showcase the clothing for the store. When he needed help, I needed to get into the merchandise.”

When your mother took the DeWitt medicine and to napping, I took to reading more about how to properly run a mansion.

By this time, I had worked for her a few months and was learning from the manual of Maria Parloa, learning the cleaning and storage system, but I wasn't cooking yet. That would come years later, for your mother enjoyed it so and we enjoyed her wonderful meals.

My job was to have meals prepared in the pre-slicing and dicing, to set the table, and to anticipate her needs, changing moods or supply, and schedules. She was brilliant in her teaching methods, and I thought of how good of a mother she was to you boys and how the children of Charles Brother could have benefitted, or even have helped, in the running of the mansion and the support of the businesses, indirectly of course. But I kept these thoughts hidden.

—Miss Minnie

2025 Copyright Christine Friesel