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Authors: Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
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had to be coaxed like a child into signing the final papers. I feel she was very fortunate to find a buyer who would meet her price. The house is in need of extensive repairs (a fact I had to point out privately to Cousin Josie). She had always lived here like a tenant, leaving the responsibility and expense of maintaining the house to someone else: first her parents, then you. However, it is solidly built and, with a little work, should provide a splendid home for its new owners and their children, of whom there are five with another on the way.
The furniture is even more magnificent than I remembered. I am having it all shipped to St. Louis, where I trust it will help transform our new house into a home with a sense of family history.
Cousin Josie absolutely refuses to consider making a will. It is an admission of mortality she will not even discuss. However, it is no longer necessary, since, with the furniture, she is repaying all debts, past and future, to me and my family in advance of her death.
You must plan a visit to St. Louis soon to see us in our new home.
Much love,
Bess
March 20, 1918
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
On this date Josephine Farrow of Syracuse, New York, turns over all title to furnishings contained in her former residence to her cousin, Elizabeth Alcott Steed, in grateful acknowledgment of the continuous financial and emotional support provided her by the Alcott family.
Â
SIGNED: Josephine Farrow
WITNESS: Abigail Saunders
Director
Riverview Convalescent Home
Â
Addendum: The four-poster bed, which formerly occupied the master bedroom of the Farrow home, will be moved to the Riverview Convalescent Home and remain in the possession of Miss Farrow for as long as she wishes, or until her death, at which time it will become the property of her cousin Elizabeth Alcott Steed.
March 20, 1918
Syracuse, New York
Dear Heart,
I have seen the future and it frightens me. Shakespeare was right about old age. Cousin Josie was as terrified as a child on her first day of school when I left her at the convalescent home this morning. Her room is sunny and comfortable, though not nearly as large as it looked in the brochure. But perhaps that is because it is so completely dominated by the four-poster bed she insisted on bringing with her. The bed has been in her family for generations. She was conceived in it, born in it, and intends to die in it. I would hate to think that my life ended in the same place where it began.
I know now one must plan oneâs old age as surely as one plans any other stage of life. The tragedy of Cousin Josieâs life is that she never knew what she wanted at any ageâonly what she did not want. She never wanted to marry nor to pursue a career, and in life, unlike grammar, double negatives do not produce an affirmative.
I have never been more grateful for my family than I was this morning when I told Cousin Josie good-bye. I tried to convince her that I will always care about her but she just shook her head and continued calling me Mrs. Steed. She has never called me âCousinâ and now I suppose she never will.
I am spending the weekend with the Davises in Connecticut and then Totsie and I are going into New York City for a few days. We plan to share a hotel room, see plays, and pretend we are still schoolgirls with all the world ahead of us. Having begun this trip by facing old age, I shall end it by remembering my youthâan attempt to balance the future with the past before coming home to you, my beloved present.
All my love,
Bess
June 20, 1918
St. Louis
Dearest Totsie,
I came home last March and planted a garden as close to yours as I could manage in our Missouri climate. Everything is in bloom now and I can proclaim the effect a triumph. I became a member of the St. Louis Garden Club in April on the basis of my design for a new garden (though to be frank, membership is based more on social standing than on horticultural talent). I invited the
The furniture is even more magnificent than I remembered. I am having it all shipped to St. Louis, where I trust it will help transform our new house into a home with a sense of family history.
Cousin Josie absolutely refuses to consider making a will. It is an admission of mortality she will not even discuss. However, it is no longer necessary, since, with the furniture, she is repaying all debts, past and future, to me and my family in advance of her death.
You must plan a visit to St. Louis soon to see us in our new home.
Much love,
Bess
March 20, 1918
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
On this date Josephine Farrow of Syracuse, New York, turns over all title to furnishings contained in her former residence to her cousin, Elizabeth Alcott Steed, in grateful acknowledgment of the continuous financial and emotional support provided her by the Alcott family.
Â
SIGNED: Josephine Farrow
WITNESS: Abigail Saunders
Director
Riverview Convalescent Home
Â
Addendum: The four-poster bed, which formerly occupied the master bedroom of the Farrow home, will be moved to the Riverview Convalescent Home and remain in the possession of Miss Farrow for as long as she wishes, or until her death, at which time it will become the property of her cousin Elizabeth Alcott Steed.
March 20, 1918
Syracuse, New York
Dear Heart,
I have seen the future and it frightens me. Shakespeare was right about old age. Cousin Josie was as terrified as a child on her first day of school when I left her at the convalescent home this morning. Her room is sunny and comfortable, though not nearly as large as it looked in the brochure. But perhaps that is because it is so completely dominated by the four-poster bed she insisted on bringing with her. The bed has been in her family for generations. She was conceived in it, born in it, and intends to die in it. I would hate to think that my life ended in the same place where it began.
I know now one must plan oneâs old age as surely as one plans any other stage of life. The tragedy of Cousin Josieâs life is that she never knew what she wanted at any ageâonly what she did not want. She never wanted to marry nor to pursue a career, and in life, unlike grammar, double negatives do not produce an affirmative.
I have never been more grateful for my family than I was this morning when I told Cousin Josie good-bye. I tried to convince her that I will always care about her but she just shook her head and continued calling me Mrs. Steed. She has never called me âCousinâ and now I suppose she never will.
I am spending the weekend with the Davises in Connecticut and then Totsie and I are going into New York City for a few days. We plan to share a hotel room, see plays, and pretend we are still schoolgirls with all the world ahead of us. Having begun this trip by facing old age, I shall end it by remembering my youthâan attempt to balance the future with the past before coming home to you, my beloved present.
All my love,
Bess
June 20, 1918
St. Louis
Dearest Totsie,
I came home last March and planted a garden as close to yours as I could manage in our Missouri climate. Everything is in bloom now and I can proclaim the effect a triumph. I became a member of the St. Louis Garden Club in April on the basis of my design for a new garden (though to be frank, membership is based more on social standing than on horticultural talent). I invited the
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