Chapter Eight

   So, thus my family started.  My grandmother Sarah gave up her social life for her children. She educated them as far as she could, then my uncles & father were sent across the street to 2 little old ladies.  They would continue their education as far as they could teach.  Next would be a tutor and another school.  Boies & Charles would be ready for Harvard at the age of 16.

  It was said of my grandmother that she was 'a woman of rare culture and refinement, of unusual intelligence and phenomenal and magnificent beauty.'

  My grandparents were exceptional people.  They took a lot of trips, sometimes with the boys and sometimes not.  You see, Sarah's father disappeared and they spent a lot of time searching for him.  My father would take up the task of finding out what happened and on a trip he & I were on we found a man who knew.  He took us to Jeremiah's grave, it was the first time I ever saw my father's shoulders slump. Right before my eyes he seemed to age, my father was never the same after that.

  His words that he would've had a real life and that he had wasted so much of his life searching rang in my ears. I didn't understand but I do now and as much as I would like to share, it is something that I can not.

   When it was time for the 2 older boys to go to Harvard and Harvard was my grandmother's choice because her family had gone there.  My grandparents bought a house close to the school, my grandfather's maiden sister Lydia was chosen to be housemother for the boys.  In return, Lydia would be given the house for her to live in the rest of her life.  My grandparents would pay for everything including food.

  There were times when Lydia would have to tell one of the boys to write to their dad that they needed supplies.  My grandfather seemed to be lax  or forgetful in the food department but then again, Lydia would entertain a lot due to her status in society.  Thus, a lot of food went towards that.

   Lydia would be there for all the boys except Philip.  By the time, Philip was age ready for college, a few things would happen.  My grandmother would pass away and Harvard would have bullies at the school.

  Uncle Richard would be the first victim, he never said what happened except that it was an accident.  But, he was hit with an rowing oar.  Uncle Richard was the champion of the rowing team and one day he was practicing and the oar damaged his eye.  The damage was so bad his eye had to be removed and he had a fake eye the rest of his life.

  My grandfather wrote to Uncle Richard a lot thru out his life, telling him to look a man right in the face, never look down, never be ashamed.  In her cruel fits, Dorothy Palmer would say mean things about Uncle Richard's eye.  Close to her death, it is the only thing she regretted (and she did a lot of bad things), she regretted what she had done to Uncle Richard and how she treated him.  My Uncle Richard was a very good, gentle, sweet man.  He did not deserve to be treated so badly.

   The other thing that happened was Uncle Francis was beaten and raped.  His head hit the cement, he was never able to finish school.  My grandfather brought him home, then, much to my father's & uncles dismay put him in a mental hospital for a short time.  This act by my grandfather made his sons very mad at him and he lost all of their respect.  I do not know if this attack was brought on by a friendship that my Uncle Francis had with another boy. "Piggy" was his name and he was in love with Uncle Francis.  He wrote him love letters, Uncle Francis, not knowing what to do, asked advice from his father. The advice was to burn all the letters and slowly exit the friendship without hurting "Piggy's" feelings.  I don't think "Piggy" took it well.

   With these 2 incidents, my grandfather refused to send Philip to Harvard. Instead he went to the University of Pennsylvania and a mining school in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

   My grandmother never got to see her sons graduate, she passed away in 1881.  It was said she passed away from pneumonia but that is not true.

  Philip had not wanted to go to school that day, so he pretended he was sick.  He was having problems with bullies also, including the teacher.  So, he stayed home.

  As my grandmother was coming down the stairs, she tripped and fell, breaking her neck.  Now, in those days if you had an accident in the home, that was terrible.  People had a lot of strange ideas about that.  So, it was told that she died from pneumonia.

  Even with that, rumors ran that my grandfather had killed her.  That was not true, she was the light of his life.  He in turn blamed his son Philip.  It's a terrible thing what grief does.  Philip always felt, if he had gone to school that day his life would have gone in a totally different direction.

  As it was, with Sarah's death, it left a hole in all of her family's lifes.  One that would never be filled or healed.