A Time to Dance-My America 3 (2 page)

July 22, 1865

Today Jed lent me his book of plays by William Shakespeare. He said there would be many plays by Shakespeare coming to New York in the fall, and one of them would surely be suitable for us to see together.

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I reminded Jed that I was no longer interested in plays and the theatre. He just smiled and handed me the book anyway.

July 24, 1865

I have been trying to read the plays of William Shakespeare. Jed says the writing is poetry. I see that some of the lines rhyme, but most do not. How can that be poetry?

July 26, 1865

Pa still has had no success finding a job with an orchestra. People tell him there will be more work for musicians when "the season" begins in September.

I told Pa not to worry. I said that I wanted to help our family, and could perhaps get a job in one of the factories.

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"Nonsense!" he said. "We'll hear no more about that!"

I think I hurt his feelings. I know how frustrated he is about not being able to support his family.

July 27, 1865

This morning, Pa told us he was putting an advertisement in the paper seeking violin students. He asked Jane Ellen if he could use the front room for his lessons.

"Oh yes!" she said. She assured him that we could tend to Baby Abe in his room while he teaches out front.

Pa taught violin lessons when we lived in Gettysburg. He had hoped his teaching days were over. But now he seems resigned to going back to it.

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I lay awake much of last night, thinking that Pa is not very smart about money. It will surely be a long while before he has enough violin students to earn much.

So this morning, on my way to the market, I walked quickly to the address of one of the factories I had read about in the Advertisements section of the paper. I climbed a creaky set of stairs and peered into a dim, windowless room.

What I saw was horrible. Dozens of women and girls were working at machines. Some of the girls were even younger than I. The air was stale and damp. The smell was terrible and the heat nearly unbearable. And the noise! The noise was almost deafening. I covered my ears and ran back down the stairs.

I do not know what to do. I cannot imagine

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working in such a place. I could apply for a job as a servant in a wealthy person's home. But then I would not be able to help Jane Ellen take care of the baby during the day.

Why must we always be struggling? I thought our lives in New York would be different.

July 31, 1865

There was a notice in Jed's newspaper today about a contest for Civil War veterans -- a left-handed penmanship contest. Any Union soldier who lost his right arm in the war may compete. The soldier with the best handwriting will receive five hundred dollars. The contest is supposed to inspire veterans to overcome their handicaps and build new lives.

As I write this, Pa is practicing his violin. Jane Ellen is playing the piano. Jed is gently

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rocking Baby Abe in his arms. I am ashamed of my feelings of discontent. I must try to remember how lucky we are.

August 3, 1865

We finally had a discussion about my schooling. I think Pa and Jed had been putting it off because of Jane Ellen's health. Here is what we decided: For at least another year, I will study my lessons at home with Jane Ellen. I will help her take care of Baby Abe and keep house.

I do not mind this arrangement at all. Jane Ellen is a wonderful teacher. And to be honest, I was a little afraid of what the schools here in New York would be like.

[Image: Two American flags.]

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Jane Ellen got a letter from her friend Becky Lee in Gettysburg today. Becky Lee had wonderful news. She has found her mother's brother and his family, and they are coming to live with her!

Becky Lee's relatives were all slaves on a plantation in South Carolina. Becky Lee had been trying to locate them since the war ended. Finally she received word from someone who had seen one of her notices in a South Carolina newspaper.

Becky Lee traveled to a little town near Charleston and found them living in a shack on their former owner's land. She said there were seven people sharing a room the size of our parlor in Gettysburg.

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I cannot stop thinking about Becky Lee's relatives. In her letter, Becky Lee said there was a girl in the family about my age. The girl must have been a slave, too.

I have tried over and over to imagine how it would feel to be

owned

by another person. But I cannot do it. I simply cannot imagine it. And I cannot imagine how anyone could ever believe it was all right to own slaves.

August 15, 1865

Pa has received no inquiries from his notice seeking students. I told him that no one can think of violin lessons in this weather. I said that as soon as the heat spell ends, people will think of music again.

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Jed has found another play for us to see together. It is a play by William Shakespeare called

King Lear.

It will be performed at the Broadway Theatre on Broome Street. We will see it in two weeks.

I must admit, I am rather excited. I thought I had lost my interest in the theatre. But perhaps not.

August 19, 1865

I told Jane Ellen today that I could not understand the poetry in Jed's Shakespeare book and was worried that I would not be able to enjoy

King Lear.

She says we can use

King Lear

for our first reading lesson.

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I have been trying to read

King Lear.

Jane Ellen is helping me understand the story. It is all about a king who gives his kingdom to his daughters and then goes insane when they turn against him.

August 25, 1865

Jed invited a friend from the newspaper to join us for supper tonight. During the meal, there was a lot of talk about President Johnson.

When he was Vice President, Mr. Johnson spoke very harshly about the South. But now he believes the South should be treated with leniency. He says the government should help the South recover from the war.

Many Northern congressmen, though, are

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still very angry. They think the South should be punished.

I truly do not know what I think. When I think of Becky Lee and her family, and the wounded soldiers, and the assassination of President Lincoln, I, too, feel angry. But when I remember Captain Heath, the Confederate officer who saved me in Gettysburg, and his family in North Carolina, I do not want him to be punished. And when I remember that my mother's brothers may have been Confederate soldiers, I do not want them punished, either.

How is it possible to feel such different things at the same time?

August 30, 1865

Good news! Pa has received his first inquiry for music lessons! A letter arrived from a

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woman who said she very much wishes for her son to learn the violin. She says she is seeking a patient and talented instructor.

Pa replied immediately. He said he was eager to assist her and was certain he could teach her son to play. He said he would charge three dollars a month, and that she should bring her son for a lesson every week.

Pa seemed very happy that someone finally noticed his advertisement. I hope, I hope, I hope the woman accepts his terms.

September 4, 1865

I am still reading

King Lear.

The plot has gotten very complicated. Many people have been killed or banished.

[Image: Two American flags.]

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Jed wrote an article for his paper this week about President Johnson and his enemies in Congress. Some congressmen are now saying that Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, should be hanged, like the conspirators who helped John Wilkes Booth murder President Lincoln. They say the Confederacy tried to murder the nation.

In his article, Jed said what most threatens to murder the nation now is the hatred that rages in some of its leaders. He reminded people of President Lincoln's words: "With malice toward none, with charity for all..."

September 11, 1865

Hooray! Pa received word from the woman whose son wants to learn the violin. She found

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Pa's terms "perfectly acceptable" and will bring her son for his first lesson next week. Hooray!

September 12, 1865

Tonight we see

King Lear.

I have not been able to finish reading the play, so I do not know how it turns out. But I must confess that, so far, I cannot understand why Jed thinks William Shakespeare is such a great writer.

September 13, 1865

I have an announcement to make:

King Lear

is a wonderful play! It made a great deal more sense when I saw it acted out onstage last night. I had no idea how truly sad it was! One of the king's daughters, Cordelia, has trouble saying how much she loves him, and he turns against her. The other daughters take

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over the kingdom and throw King Lear out of his castle.

In the end, when King Lear loses his mind, Cordelia is the only one who comforts him. But then she is killed, and he is all alone. When King Lear loses Cordelia, it is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

When we came home, Pa was still awake, planning a first lesson for his new student. I rushed to him and threw my arms around him. He seemed startled, but he put down his fiddle and held me for a long time.

September 14, 1865

I told Jed I would like to see more plays by Shakespeare. Again, he said he would "keep his eye out" for something I might enjoy.

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Pa had the first lesson with his new music student today. He is a boy about eight years old. He came with his mother, who introduced herself as Mrs. Charles Edmonds and her son as Master Charles Edmonds Jr.

Mrs. Edmonds said that Charles's violin had belonged to her husband, who had been killed in the war. Pa said he was terribly sorry and that he would be honored to help Charles learn to play.

Jane Ellen and I took Baby Abe to Pa's room. When he was settled, I peeked through the door and watched Pa teach Charles Edmonds Jr. how to play the violin.

First, he helped Charles hold the violin properly under his chin. Then he showed him how to grasp the bow and draw it across the strings.

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At first, Charles could make no sound at all, but Pa was very patient. He put his arms around Charles and made little adjustments to the way the boy was moving the bow.

Eventually Charles began to make sounds. At first they were scratching sounds. Then they were screeching sounds. Still, Pa was patient.

Finally, Charles took a deep breath. With Pa guiding his hand, he drew the bow slowly and steadily across the strings. The sound was low and rich and sweet. It hung in the air for a moment, then died away slowly.

Pa looked happier than I have seen him in months. "Yes! Yes!" he shouted. "Good boy! Excellent!"

Charles was so excited he almost dropped the violin. When I looked at Mrs. Edmonds, there were tears on her cheeks.

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At breakfast, I asked Jed if his eye was still out for more plays we could see. He laughed and said he would find something soon.

Meanwhile, Jane Ellen is helping me read

Romeo and Juliet.

September 26, 1865

Charles Edmonds had his second violin lesson with Pa today. After the lesson, Mrs. Edmonds told Pa how pleased she was with his teaching. She said it meant the world to her to hear the sound of her husband's violin again.

Pa just smiled and nodded. He actually seemed a bit shy.

[Image: Two American flags.]

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I am finding

Romeo and Juliet

a bit easier to understand than

King Lear.

The story is very sweet. And Juliet is so young! Jane Ellen says she is only a few years older than I.

September 28, 1865

Today I went with Pa on his rounds of the theatres. None of them need more musicians, but people tell him to keep checking.

I thought Pa would be discouraged, but he did not seem so at all. On the way home, he talked a great deal about Charles Edmonds and his mother, and how happy he was to have such a good student.

[Image: Two American flags.]

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Jane Ellen got another letter from Becky Lee in Gettysburg. Becky Lee says times there are very hard, for whites and Negroes alike. Many freed slaves have moved north. There is not enough work. Jed says times are hard all over the country.

October 3, 1865

I have finished