Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Adelaide sat at the kitchen table after Howard left for work, finishing her second cup of tea. Susannah had washed the breakfast dishes and was sweeping the floor while Mrs. Gleason, who had mixed and kneaded a batch of bread dough already, was in the laundry area teaching Jack how to polish shoes.
“Do you know anything about children, Susannah?” Adelaide asked.
“What do you mean, ma’am?”
Addy lowered her voice so Jack wouldn’t overhear.“Inever had younger siblings, so I’m afraid I know nothing at all about children. I need to take Jack shopping for a new coat and shoes, but I’ve never taken a child anywhere before.”
“I have two younger sisters and three brothers, ma’am. It was my job to take care of them, sometimes.”
Addy was relieved. “Good. Then I would like you to come to the department store with Jack and me. You can help me pick out some clothes for him and maybe keep him from dashing away or disappearing.”
“What about my work here?”
“It can wait.”
The November day was cold as the three of them headed out together for the trip to Dixon’s Department Store. Addy was proud of herself for having learned the trolley routes that crisscrossed Manhattan and for tackling them on her own. They stepped off the trolley in the busy shopping district, where pedestrians and businessmen and probably a few pickpockets jammed the sidewalks.
Jack halted as he gazed around at the noise and bustle of finely dressed women and gentlemen as if he’d never seen anything like it before. Perhaps he hadn’t. Addy tugged his sleeve to move him toward the main entrance to Dixon’s, where Howard had an account. “Stay close to me,” she said, “so you won’t get lost.” Jack nodded, but before they’d walked fifteen feet, Addy lost both him and Susannah when they stopped to stare at Dixon’s window displays, decorated for Christmas like a winter fairyland. One window featured a variety of toys, with dolls and tea sets for little girls, and toy locomotives and fire engines for boys.
“Isn’t that something, ma’am?” Susannah murmured.
“Have you never been to this department store before?” Addy asked.
“No, ma’am. They don’t have stores like this where I come from.”
“Where did you shop for clothes?”
Susannah looked at her as if it should be obvious. “From the Sears catalogue. Or else we sewed them ourselves.”
Addy had taken so many things for granted. She and Mother shopped in stores in Paris and London, and had their dresses tailor-made by seamstresses. There was so much she still needed to learn about the new life she had chosen. She watched Susannah and Jack trying to take it all in, and decided to let them take their time, moving slowly down the block toward the main entrance so they could admire all the window displays. Once inside the enormous store, Jack halted again. His jaw dropped and he gazed up and around at everything in astonishment. Susannah also seemed unable to move. “Wouldn’t it be heaven to work in a place like this?” she murmured.
They were blocking the aisle and receiving annoyed looks from other shoppers, so Adelaide finally took each of them by the hand and tugged them forward. She knew they must look odd—a well-dressed woman dragging a ragamuffin child and a plainly dressed housemaid through the fashionable store, but she feared their shopping trip would take all day if they kept stopping to gawk. They moved past the perfume counter, the fragrances making Addy’s nose tingle, then past a display of women’s leather gloves. “Where is your children’s department?” Addy asked a clerk.
“Second floor, ma’am. The elevators are over there.”
Addy prodded Jack and Susannah forward and stopped by the elevator, waiting with the other shoppers for it to arrive. When the heavy door opened, the pair seemed reluctant to step inside. “It’s just like the dumbwaiter at home,” Addy assured them. “But it’s for people. The second floor, please,” she told the elevator operator. Jack squeezed her hand as if for reassurance as the door slowly closed behind them. The simple act of innocent trust brought unexpected tears to her eyes. Howard wanted a family. Addy did too, but she’d been raised by nannies and knew nothing about caring for small children. Still, she couldn’t deny that something stirred inside when she felt Jack’s hand in hers.
They found the children’s department, and a saleslady hurried over, smiling at Addy, who wore an expensive day suit, cashmere overcoat, and stylish hat. “May I help you, ma’am?”
“My little friend could use a warmer coat. And a new set of clothes. And some new shoes.”
The clerk’s mouth twitched in disapproval as she appraised Jack and Susannah, who looked out of place. The woman’s attitude irked Addy, perhaps because it resembled her own, until recently. “Very well, ma’am. Miss Robbins will be happy to help you.” She nodded to a nervous-looking junior clerk not much older than Susannah, and the girl hurried over.
“Here’s where I’ll need your help, Susannah,” Addy whispered. She nudged the maid, hoping she would stop gazing around and remember why she’d been asked to come. Together with Miss Robbins, they began choosing clothes from the racks and helping Jack try them on in the fitting room. He seemed overwhelmed as he tried on pants and shirts and new shoes. His old clothing lay like a pile of rags on the floor when they’d finished.
“We’ll take two pairs of pants in his size,” Addy ordered. “And three shirts.”
“He needs socks and undergarments, too,” Susannah said. “And a new coat.”
“Right.” Jack tried on several coats before Addy found one that she thought would be warm enough. “Jack will wear his new clothes and coat home,” she told Miss Robbins. “Kindly wrap up the other purchases and drop his old clothes into the trash, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The young clerk’s head seemed to be spinning. The supervisor, who had watched from a distance, returned to help tally and wrap the purchases. Susannah and Jack gaped in wonder as the sales receipts flew through an overhead network of pneumatic tubes in a metal cylinder. The final bill surprised Addy. It didn’t amount to much by her former standards—she had often spent twice that amount on a single pair of shoes and three times as much for a hat. She had never bothered to look at price tags or worry about how much something might cost until her father had died. She had made up her mind to live within Howard’s budget when they’d married but had gotten carried away today. She needed to be more careful.
Miss Robbins escorted them to the elevator when they were all done. “Thank you for your help,” Addy said as they waited for it. “You did a very good job today.”
She blushed. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m sorry if I seemed nervous. This is only my first week here.”
“Congratulations. I hope you become head of the department one day.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Addy liked this pleasant young lady. An idea suddenly struck her, and she searched through her bag for a copy of the suffrage newspaper. “Listen, Miss Robbins, I belong to an organization that makes sure working women like you are treated fairly and paid a fair wage. You might be interested in reading some of our materials—”
The girl held up her hand, her eyes wide with fright. “Oh, no thank you, ma’am. We’re not allowed to have anything to do with things like that.”
“Not allowed? Your employer can’t dictate what you may or may not read. You have the freedom to—”
“I don’t want to lose my job, ma’am.” She glanced over her shoulder at the supervisor. The woman, who had been watching them, hurried over.
“Is there a problem?”
As unfair as it was, Addy needed to drop the matter, for the salesgirl’s sake. “There’s no problem at all. Miss Robbins has done an excellent job of helping us. She is to be commended.” The elevator chimed and the door slid open. Addy left the store seething.
Once again, they took the trolley to within a few blocks of home and walked the rest of the way. Jack skipped ahead in his new coat and shoes. The aroma of fresh bread met Addy when she opened the door. Mrs. Gleason had set a place for Addy upstairs at the dining room table. “Why don’t you take a moment to freshen up,” she said, “and I’ll send up your lunch. Would you prefer tea or coffee, Mrs. Forsythe?”
“Tea, please. Thank you.” Addy needed to explain to kind Mrs. Gleason that she wanted to live an ordinary life, and didn’t expect special treatment. But now was not the time.
“My, don’t you look smart in your new clothes, Jackie-boy?” Addy heard the cook say as Susannah and Jack went downstairs with the packages. Addy took off her coat and hat and went upstairs to change into a simple skirt and shirtwaist. By the time she came down again, a bowl of soup and a plate of delicate luncheon sandwiches were waiting on the table, along with a pot of tea beneath a knitted cozy. The food was delicious, yet Addy felt uneasy as she ate. This wasn’t the way she had intended to live with her new husband. She wanted to be a regular wife to Howard, not an indulged heiress. The wonderful Mrs. Gleason was obviously accustomed to serving her wealthy employers, but Addy would have to convince her that she wanted to be tutored, not indulged.
There was a scrape and a squeak as the dumbwaiter door slid open downstairs. Addy heard Jack’s voice echoing up through the shaft. “Can I turn the crank now, Mrs. Gleason? Is it time?”
“Not yet, child. Let’s give Mrs. Forsythe a few more minutes to enjoy her lunch, shall we?” Jack must have left the dumbwaiter door open because for the next few minutes, Addy could clearly hear Susannah telling Mrs. Gleason all about Dixon’s Department Store, describing marvels and wonders that Addy took for granted.
“Miss Robbins, the clerk who helped us, was just eighteen, like me, and she told me she liked working there, even if her supervisor is a little stern, sometimes. It must be heavenly to work in a grand place like that.”
“The only way people like us will ever work at Dixon’s is if we’re cleaning the floors after the store closes for the night.”
Mrs. Gleason’s words saddened Adelaide. She felt sorry for young Susannah, growing up on a farm, then moving to the city to clean and scrub, working in someone else’s house all day and dreaming of nothing more than becoming a salesclerk. Addy started to take another sip of tea, then stopped. This was America, where people could change their station in life and become anything they wanted to be. Hadn’t men like the Vanderbilts and Astors worked their way up from poverty to become millionaires? Her own great-grandfather Arthur Stanhope had done it, as well. Susannah wasn’t reaching for the moon. She merely wanted to work in a beautiful store instead of washing dishes and floors and dirty shirts for the rest of her life. Addy set down her teacup and hurried downstairs to the kitchen.
“How long have you lived in the city, Susannah?”
The girl looked scared, as if she might be in trouble. “Just six months, Mrs. Forsythe.”
“And what brought you here from home?” Susannah turned to her aunt, who was also eyeing Adelaide warily.
“There were too many mouths to feed back home, ma’am. Mama said it was high time I got a job and helped out.”
“Listen, I saw you admiring the department store today, and I just overheard you telling Mrs. Gleason how much you would like to work there.” Susannah’s cheeks started turning pink, and Addy quickly pointed to the dumbwaiter. “I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but the sound carried upstairs through the shaft.”
“I-I like working here, Mrs. Forsythe! I didn’t mean anything—”
“I know you didn’t. Listen, I work for an organization that believes women should be allowed to pursue their dreams. Just because you’re a maid now, it doesn’t mean you can’t reach for a higher goal. And I would like to help you do that.”
Mrs. Gleason looked concerned. “Please don’t give the girl false hope, Mrs. Forsythe.”
“I don’t believe it is false hope. If she can learn how to clean and keep house, she can learn how to be a salesclerk. I’ve worked with numerous clerks in my lifetime, and I believe I can teach her how. You went to school, didn’t you, Susannah?”
“Yes, ma’am. I finished the eighth grade.”
“Good. So, you know how to read and write and do sums. You could earn better pay as a clerk, which means your future will be much better. What do you say?”
Again, Susannah looked to her aunt. “I-I just started working here.”
“And you can continue working here and receiving wages while I prepare you for better things.” Both women stared at Addy as if she had proposed joining the circus. They needed time. “Why don’t you think it over, and we’ll talk more about it tomorrow.” She was wise enough to leave and return upstairs, but she hoped Susannah would be brave enough to dream.
“Can I turn the crank now, Mrs. Gleason?” Jack asked. “Is it time?”
“Yes, go ahead, Jackie-boy.” Addy had worried that he would be in the cook’s way, but she seemed very patient with him.
Later that afternoon, Adelaide called Jack upstairs to attempt some schoolwork. She found a storybook that had been Howard’s as a child, and she and Jack sat on the settee in the parlor to practice reading. It didn’t take Addy long to realize that the book was too advanced for him. She read the story aloud to him instead, pointing to the words as she spoke them so he could follow along. “Now let’s practice the alphabet,” she said when they reached the end. She gathered paper and pencils and moved to the dining room table where he copied and printed the letters. It was a slow process. Jack was restless and fidgety, sighing and groaning and biting the pencil as if the work was tortuous. It felt tortuous to Addy, as well. They were still at the table, printing the final “Z” when Howard returned home. Jack leaped up and ran to him.
“You’re home!”
“I am. Hey, are those new clothes you’re wearing?”
“Yep. And I got a new coat, too. Can we go look for Polly now?”
Howard’s smile faded. “I’m sorry, Jack, but it’s too late in the day. We’ll have to wait until I’m free on Saturday.”
“But Polly needs me! We gotta find her!”
Addy hurried over to try to soothe him. “You and I are going to check some of the other orphanages in the city, Jack, just as soon as I get a list.” She looked up at Howard, who had pulled her close to kiss her cheek. “My mother is sending me a list. Why don’t you change your clothes and relax a bit. We can talk more about it over dinner.”
“That sounds good.” He kissed her again, on the lips this time, and she found herself missing the privacy they’d enjoyed before Jack and the servants had come. She suspected that Howard did, too. She took his coat and hat and hung them on the hall tree, glad that he could come home to a warm meal after a long day, and glad that, for now, she didn’t have to worry about preparing it.
Once again, the meal was delicious. The crust on the shepherd’s pie was delicate and flaky, the gravy thick and savory, and the meat so tender it seemed to melt in Addy’s mouth. Everything about the meal was perfect—and perfectly discouraging. She wanted to be a real wife to Howard, but it would take a lifetime to learn to cook like Mrs. Gleason.
“With food this good, you’ll have to take me shopping for new clothes,” Howard said as he reached for a second helping. “So, tell me about your day. Did you buy Jack’s clothes at Dixon’s?”
“I did. And a most upsetting incident happened there. I tried to share one of our suffrage newspapers with the young clerk who had waited on us, and she became very frightened and refused to take it. I told her our organization wanted to ensure that young working women were treated fairly, but she said she wasn’t allowed to read things like that. Can you imagine?”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Why don’t people realize that our organization is about so much more than winning the right to vote? Only one of the original resolutions had to do with that. It’s about women having the right to a higher education, and to enter a profession, and to be paid fair wages for the work they do.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, darling. I’m already on your side. Don’t let ignorant people upset you.”
“I’m sorry. I know I need to let it go and be more patient. It’s just that I’m trying so hard to make a difference but I keep hitting brick walls.” Addy debated whether to tell Howard about her offer to teach Susannah to be a salesclerk but decided to wait and surprise him. She would have to tell him how much money she’d spent, however. “Howard, I’m sorry to say that I spent a little more money today than I had intended. The truth is, I had no idea how much children’s clothes and shoes would cost and I never thought to make note of the prices and add them up until it was too late. It would have been embarrassing to hand back some of the purchases after I saw the bill. I know we discussed our budget, and I know I promised to be careful, but—”
“Addy, darling, stop worrying. It’s not as though you went on a spending spree for yourself. Poor Jack needed those clothes.”
“But I spent more than we budgeted when I hired the servants, too.”
“We’ll figure out a way to make it work. From what I’ve tasted of Mrs. Gleason’s cooking, it’s certainly worth every penny.” He took another bite of shepherd’s pie.
“Susannah went with me today to help me shop for Jack. I think I’ll take her with me when I search for Polly at the other orphanages.”
“That’s better than going alone, I suppose. But Susannah seems very young.”
“She’s eighteen. We managed the trolley routes quite well today, so I think she and I could take public transportation when we search for Jack’s sister, too.”
Howard stopped eating and looked at her in alarm. “That’s not a good idea. Some of those orphans’ homes are in unsavory parts of town. I’d prefer it if we went together.”
“But it will take too long if we can only search on Saturdays, and poor Jack wants to find his family.”
Howard thought for a moment before exhaling. “Then I’ll hire a carriage to take you.”
“But that’s another expense we haven’t budgeted for.”
“Adelaide, your safety is more important to me than money. Listen, tell me the times and days you plan to go and I’ll negotiate a good deal with a carriage driver.”
Addy smiled at Howard, knowing she would be wise to concede. “You are good at negotiation, my dear husband.”
He smiled in return. “It’s what I do best.”
Addy wondered what she did best. She had taken Jack into her home, but wasn’t very good at tutoring him. She hadn’t known how to buy clothes for him without help. And she should have considered the cost and time involved before offering to help him find his family. She still needed to learn how to cook and keep house, and she definitely needed more practice in sticking to a budget. Worst of all, she had hoped to make a difference by supporting women’s suffrage but hadn’t even been able to convince a young salesclerk that the cause was worthwhile.
Howard reached across the table and took her hand, interrupting her thoughts. “What’s wrong, Addy? You’re frowning.”
She sighed and gave a small smile. “Nothing’s wrong. I have everything in the world to be thankful for. And there are so many, many people who don’t.” Tomorrow was another day. She would do better tomorrow.