The Gilded Years (12 page)

“You have a note from a visitor, Miss Hemmings,” said the maid, bending her covered head. “He is visiting from Cornell University and left word with the gatekeeper at the Lodge. Frederick Hemmings is his name.”

“Yes, Leticia. Thank you. He is my brother,” Anita clarified.

“Very good, miss,” the maid said, handing Anita the note. Written in Frederick’s neat hand was a letter asking his sister to meet him at the Smith Brothers restaurant on Market Street. Frederick had come to Vassar twice in the years before to check on Anita, but he had always been careful not to step on campus, always leaving a note at the Lodge instead. Anita glanced through the hallways around the parlor to make sure that Lottie wasn’t lurking about, and when she confirmed she was alone, headed to town.

Though Anita, at twenty-four, was Frederick’s older sister, he knew under what guise she was attending the college, and like the rest of her family, worried about her constantly. Despite his concern, he never stayed at Vassar long. The two knew the way a small community talked, and Frederick had darker skin than Anita. It was not dark enough to attract real attention, as both their parents had light complexions, but they still took every precaution they could.

Anita walked the few blocks to Smith Brothers, across the street from the large Nelson House Hotel, and saw Frederick in a far seat, barely visible in the window. He looked handsome and self-assured, his wavy hair neatly parted in the middle, his tailored suit new. Anita paused on the street in her simple brown school dress to enjoy the sophisticated figure he struck. Frederick saw her from the window and smiled brightly, nodding his head toward the door and standing as she came inside.

“Frederick! I’m overjoyed to see you,” she said, embracing him. “How was the train journey down?”

“Anita, I’m so relieved you received my letter,” he said. “I sent it rather last minute, and I was afraid I’d beat it to Poughkeepsie. I should have sent a telegram, but I didn’t think to until I was on the train. I so wanted to come see you before the weather changed and before midsemester exams.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Your timing is wonderful. I was just beginning to get homesick. Did you take an early train?” she asked.

“No, I came down yesterday and spent the night in the little hotel, Dudley Cottage, on Raymond Avenue. I didn’t want to bother you until morning.”

“You’re never a bother, Frederick. I’m so happy to see you,” Anita said, her face alight. She knew this was the one
conversation she would have all semester in which she could speak freely. She wanted to fully enjoy it.

“Are things going smoothly at school?” asked Frederick. “Are you still happy here?”

“I am,” Anita replied. “I have a new roommate this year. Louise Taylor. Perhaps you’ve heard of the family. They live in New York. One of those big families that the papers make such a fuss about. ‘Big’ as in wealthy, not ‘big’ as in numerous.”

“Taylor. Of course I know the name,” said Frederick. “And that is going well?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Anita confirmed. “We attended the Harvard-Williams football game in September, and her father paid the fare for our journey. It was wonderful.”

“You traveled to Cambridge with this Taylor girl?” Frederick tensed, and he leaned toward his sister with a stern expression. “I don’t like that, Anita. Not a good decision at all.”

Anita knew exactly what he meant. Do not travel to places where you interact with white men. Avoid forming close relationships of any kind. Be friendly, but do not be anyone’s friend, especially not someone like Lottie Taylor. Frederick had always been more cautious than his sister when it came to interacting and befriending those outside the Negro community. His slightly darker skin, the fact that he had never passed as white for more than a few days, his reality of being a Negro student in a white world, and his naturally circumspect character meant he never dared take the risks his sister did. And he did not approve of her behavior when she acted in a way he wouldn’t.

“It all went well, Frederick,” she said sweetly. “I promise. Lottie would have thought me rude if I didn’t go to Cambridge with her. And we had a lovely time.”

“I should trust your judgment,” Frederick said, taking a sip of his strong English tea. “But in this case I cannot. Please don’t do something like that again. Stay on campus. Don’t attend any more events with her. Certainly do not travel to New York with her, or become acquainted with her family. Keep a distance. Your work could suffer because of these unnecessary social commitments.”

Anita nodded in apparent agreement.

“And how are things for you? At school? You look very well,” she said, quick to change the subject.

“They’re going fine. My classes are challenging, but as they should be. That’s what we’ve worked so hard for, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely it is. And at home? How is everyone?”

“Everyone misses you,” said Frederick, his expression softening at the mention of family. “Mother worries about you, of course. And Father more than he will admit. He’s added additional employment, more janitorial work, at night, just for this last year while we finish our schooling. He comes home very late, almost one in the morning most days. I can see the exhaustion becoming a part of him, bending his spine. He tells me not to be concerned, but I am. He’s a slight man to begin with, and all his work is so physically demanding.”

“Another employment?” said Anita, thinking about her already overworked father, tears forming behind her eyes. “I wish he wouldn’t. I can take on additional tutoring hours. It doesn’t pay very well, but it would help. Or perhaps I can find something more lucrative in town.”

“No, Anita, you do not have time. You do enough already. He’ll be fine for one more year, and so will you.”

“I will be, Frederick,” said Anita, knowing full well that her schedule did not allow for anything but the occasional tutoring. “Things are different this year. They’re better.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said pushing his biscuits around his plate with a small fork. “I’m quite jealous that you are away, while I’m still in my childhood bedroom with Robert. I’m too old to be there with him, but I don’t have a choice, do I?” He did not. The Institute of Technology had very limited campus housing, and the only living quarters, the residential fraternities, did not allow Negroes.

“It certainly isn’t fair,” Anita said, “but sometimes I wish that I was in your position. Being here, even though lately I’ve been quite happy, I have moments of crippling exhaustion. Just remembering to be this version of Anita Hemmings, it wears on me at times.”

“I understand, but please don’t yearn after my position,” Frederick said. “Yes, there are men who are kind to me, but there are many who are not, who are hateful when they see me in classrooms.” Anita thought of Lilly Taylor’s words when they saw Alberta Scott on the Radcliffe campus, and the memory caused her stomach to flip.

“Of course,” she said apologetically. “I forget sometimes, and I shouldn’t.”

Frederick sighed, refilling her teacup. “It’s just different. I know you have your own challenges.”

The siblings looked at one another: two driven, intelligent people living lives dictated by educational institutions and their rules. Frederick could attend school as a Negro but suffered from the racism that went with it. And Anita managed to attend school as a white student while never being allowed to break from her charade. She smiled at him, wishing he could stay with her for more than a few hours. When they were growing up in their small row house, they had always been a pair, studious from the start, sharing one singular goal: a college diploma.

“You will come home when you graduate, won’t you?”
asked Frederick. That had always been the family’s expectation, and Anita knew it.

“I suppose so,” she said, reluctantly. “Though, if possible, I would like to continue my schooling.” It was a dream that in recent months had crystallized for Anita, and finally seemed attainable. “I would like very much to be a professor, hopefully here.”

“In Greek?” he asked.

“Yes. Maybe Latin as well. And Professor Macurdy, our Greek professor, said there might be an opportunity for me to go to Greece to study at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens after I graduate. Many of the other girls will be in Europe—”

“That is not something you can do,” said Frederick, bluntly. “Even if there was a scholarship to be had, Anita, that kind of attention would not be something you would want to bring on yourself.”

“And what is it that I want to bring on myself, Frederick?” she asked, trying to keep her voice down despite her rising irritation.

“A nice quiet life,” he said. “Stability. But anonymity. We’ve always said, after you came here, there was a certain way you had to live, and gallivanting around Europe with Vassar graduates, even if it is a continuation of your schooling, is not a possibility.”

“I’m doing everything that has been asked of me,” Anita replied. At times she detested her brother’s levelheadedness. He didn’t know what it was like to be at Vassar, to be treated like someone special, with an entrée to the intellectual world, and then be unable to pursue any path because in nine months time she was required to start living a small, anonymous life.

“It is not what others ask of you, but what you ask of yourself, what you have always wanted,” Frederick retorted. “
Our parents are supportive. I am supportive. But remember, the driving force behind the educational career of Anita Hemmings has always been Anita Hemmings.”

Anita glowered at her brother, but she knew he was right. She had decided on Vassar for herself years before, the day she heard it mentioned in church. No one had suggested it to her.

“I know how hard you’ve been working, how modestly you’ve been living,” said Frederick. “But it can’t be something that just ends when you graduate. It has to always be like this. You simply can’t excel past a certain point, and you are fully aware that Vassar is your limit in this world. I appreciate your desire to attend graduate school, to become a professor, but it’s not a safe route for you. Teaching at the grade school or high school level like you always planned is much more sound.”

As Anita turned the negative thought over in her mind, the door opened and Lottie burst in, every patron in the restaurant turning to look at her. She was powdered and perfect and obviously ready to play the starring role of the afternoon.

“Anita! There you are!” she boomed. “I was strolling down Market Street with every intention of purchasing a new Paul E. Wirt Fountain Pen and perhaps some more Lautier’s Quintessence of Violets, when whom do I see through the window but my beautiful roommate and the handsome man I assume is her brother?”

Quickly catching Anita’s eye, Frederick stood up and offered his chair to Lottie.

“Yes, I’m Frederick Hemmings, Anita’s brother. You must be Miss Taylor. I’m very pleased to meet you. My sister has been talking unremittingly about you, and I insist that you join us.”

“
Well, if you insist, it would be rude to decline,” said Lottie, taking Frederick’s chair. “And call me Lottie, please. Everyone does. Except my younger brother John, who calls me things I won’t repeat in polite company.”

Another chair was brought for Frederick, and he ordered Lottie Darjeeling tea and a variety of afternoon desserts. Frederick, like his sister, knew to spend money only when someone important was looking. Frugality was imperative, except when a point had to be made.

“So your sister did mention me, after all. I’m glad,” said Lottie, taking Anita’s hand. “She is my very best friend. Did she tell you we were barely acquainted until we became roommates, but now we are inseparable and I’m sure will always remain so?”

“She’s very lucky,” said Frederick.

“Oh, we both are, Frederick. We’re the happiest seniors in Main Building.” She set her teacup in front of her daintily and placed her lace-covered hands on each other. “Now tell me, Frederick. What is Cornell like? Is it a horrible place? Very liberal, isn’t it? Is it true you attend classes with women?”

“Classes? Yes. There are female students, though not many, and while they have far more stringent housing rules, and many focus their studies on home economics or teaching, they do take several classes with the men.” Frederick was an expert on Cornell, even though he had never seen Ithaca.

“Do they now?” said Lottie, lighting a cigarette. Smoking was something she did when she seemed bent on shocking. “I should love that. How lucky they are to take the same lessons as male students, not frittering away their time on classes like hygiene. I assume you are not required to take hygiene at Cornell?”

Frederick looked at her with a certain admiration and laughed. “No, that we certainly are not.”

“I’m glad it’s only the students of women’s colleges who have to deal with such frivolities. Why should one engage in an extra science course when they can study hygiene? Every single freshman has to take the wretched class here, mind you, lectured on the subjects of dress, exercise, bathing, food, work, and rest. You’d think every woman would have learned how to take a bath and cut a steak by the time she was twenty-odd. And my anatomy is not as foreign to me as all these dear professors would like to think.” Lottie’s cigarette went out and Frederick leaned over, close to her, and relit it. “Now tell me, Frederick,” Lottie purred, “are you here to check on Anita? Word travels fast, does it not? I imagine she’s already the talk of Cornell, too.”

The Hemmings siblings looked at Lottie as if her hat were on fire.

“And why would Anita be the talk of Cornell?” asked Frederick. Like his sister, he was clearly trying to keep his composure, but Anita knew where Lottie was headed and there was no way she could stop her.

“Well, if she’s not already, she will be soon. At least among the girls,” Lottie said mischievously. “Gossip does make it to Ithaca along with all those blizzards, does it not? Yes, I’m sure it does, and this will travel up there posthaste.” She beamed at Anita and put her hand on Frederick’s. “Your beautiful sister happens to have the undivided attention of Porter Hamilton, of the very well-to-do Chicago Hamiltons. Lumber millionaires. He was absolutely smitten with her at the Harvard-Williams football game, and he’s already called on her once at Vassar.”