The Whole Family: a Novel by Twelve AuthorsHowells, William Dean
General
The Whole Family: a Novel by Twelve Authors
Howells, William Dean
Domestic fiction
Lorraine's sisters and her circle once entertained me at tea in their
establishment when I visited Charles before his marriage, in New York.
They are extremely kind young women, ladies in every respect, who have a
workshop called “At the Sign of the Three-legged Stool.” They seem to be
carpenters, as nearly as I can tell. They wear fillets and bright, loose
clothes; and they make very rough-hewn burnt-wood footstools and odd
settees with pieces of glass set about in them. It is all very puzzling.
When Charles showed me a candlestick one of the young ladies had made,
and talked to me about the decoration and the line, I could see that
it was very gracefully designed and nicely put together. But when he
noticed that in the wish to be perfectly open-minded to his point of
view I was looking very attentively at a queer, uneven wrought-iron
brooch with two little pendant polished granite rocks, he only laughed
and put his hand on my shawl a minute and brought me more tea.
So that I could understand something of what Alice was mentioning as she
went on: “You know Lorraine says that, though not the most PROMINENT,
Lyman Wilde is the most RADICAL and TEMPERAMENTAL leader in the great
handicraft development in this country. Even most of the persons in
favor of it consider that he goes too far. She says, for instance, he is
so opposed to machines of all sorts that he thinks it would be better to
abolish printing and return to script. He has started what they call a
little movement of the kind now, and is training two young scriveners.”
Elizabeth was shaking her head reflectively as I passed the door, and
saying: “Ah--no compromise. And always, ALWAYS the love of beauty.” And
I heard her advising Alice never, never to be one of the foolish women
and men who hurt themselves by dreaming of beauty or happiness in their
narrow little lives; repeating sagely that this dream was even worse for
the women than for the men; and asked whether Alice supposed the Crafts
Settlement address wouldn't probably be in the New York telephone-book.
Alice seemed to be spending a very gratifying afternoon.
My sister Elizabeth's strongest instinct from her early youth has been
the passion inspiring the famous Captain Parklebury Todd, so often
quoted by Alice and Billy: “I do not think I ever knew a character so
given to creating a sensation. Or p'r'aps I should in justice say,
to what, in an Adelphi play, is known as situation.” Never has she
gratified her taste in this respect more fully than she did--as I
believe quite accidentally and on the inspiration of these words with
Alice--in taking the evening train to New York with Mr. Goward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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