31 januari, 2009

In de wolken

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De laatste twee dagen figuurlijk en vandaag letterlijk.
Dit blogje (in steno) schrijf ik in in de Deltalounge van Atlanta. Mijn laptop moet het zonder stroom doen, dus dit wordt een haastklus.

We landden om 13.30 uur.
Bij de immigration is het een en ander veranderd. Hoffelijkheid alom.
Jammer dat die vingerafdrukken nooit in één keer goed gaan.

Bij de security was het weer een gesnauw en geschreeuw van jewelste.
Zelfs onze truien moesten uit.
Het was er bulderend uit voor ik het wist; "Welcome to America". Iedereen keek geschrokken om.
De dienstklopper kwam naar me toe en probeerde uit te leggen waarom hij zijn stem verhief. Ik mompelde een Nederlandstalig vies woord.

Ook een compliment aan Delta airlines. Zoveel keer beter, positiever en vriendelijker dan KLM.
We hadden lange tijd niet met ze gevlogen. De reden weet ik eigenlijk niet.
In de toekomst kunnen ze weer op ons rekenen.

Wij zijn geluksvogels. Kunnen (medisch noodzakelijk) businessclass vliegen. .
Op Schiphol, bij het inchecken, had P. gemeld dat lang staan problemen oplevert. Hij heeft snel last van trombose.
Toen we bij de gate kwamen stond er een angstaanjagend lange rij.
Plotseling voelde ik een hand op mijn arm. Het was de incheckmevrouw. Ze begeleidde ons direct naar de security. Vervolgens mochten we meteen aan boord.

Ik kan alleen maar zeggen dat het super was. Alles.

Mijn mailboxje zit vol met felicitaties. Hartverwarmend. Bedankt allemaal.

Ted

***************
Terwijl ik met vriendin C. rustig aan het skypen was, blinkte er ineens een boodschap op.
Verbaasd las ik: "hi Ellen, shall we meet at the Cantonfair?"

Deze onverwachte uitnodiging tot contact kwam van ene Ted.
Ik klikte het snel weg.

Maar de nieuwsgierigheid was wel gewekt.
Zelf dacht ik meteen aan Canton, Ohio: de provinciestad, die zo veel publiciteit had getrokken tijdens de presidentsverkiezingen. Daar is een "vee-markt/braderie/kermis" in september.

Maar er is ook een grote fair in China (april).

Hoe dan ook.
Hoewel zeer gevlijd: deze "blind date" laat ik even aan mij voorbij gaan.

30 januari, 2009

Gekte

Zondag 1 februari, wanneer ik de koffers nog aan het uitpakken ben en wij snel onze boodschappen moeten doen - voordat de winkels sluiten - is Super Sunday.

De 43ste Super Bowl is misschien wel het grootste en best bekeken sportevenement in de VS.
Dit jaar is het (hopelijk) warme Tampa, Florida gastheer.

The Pittsburg Steelers hebben al zes keer in de finale gestaan. Ze wonnen vijf titels.
Voor The Arizona Cardinals is dit het debuut.
Ik begrijp nog steeds niets van het spel.
Zelf heb ik in 1998 in het imposante stadion (85000 toeschouwers) van the Clemson Tigers (SC) gezeten.
Zoonlief "studeerde" daar.
Hij probeerde de regels uit te leggen.
Maar hij had mijn aandacht niet.
Totaal overdonderd heb ik daar de hele middag over mij heen laten komen. Geweldig.
Touchdown = zes punten.

Alles in Amerika is groot. Dit footballevenement dus ook.
Het is een giga-circus. De muzikale shows zijn extravagant. Het is glitter en glamour.
Restaurants en winkels zijn gesloten. De straten zijn uitgestorven.

Men organiseert thuis Super Bowl-parties.
Iedereen neemt wat te eten mee mee. De BBQ gaat aan. Het bier vloeit rijkelijk.

En dan zijn er "the commercials".
Die hebben hun eigen wedstrijd. Op maandag wordt de beste reclame bekend gemaakt.

Voor een vermogen, waar de "Katrinaslachtoffers" in één keer mee geholpen zouden zijn, wordt er zendtijd gekocht.
De reclames zijn ludiek. Dat moet ik toegeven.

Het zijn kleine filmpjes.
Zijn?
Waren moet ik zeggen.
Ik ben benieuwd of er door de kredietcrisis ook bezuinigd wordt op de bijzaken van the Super Bowl.
Ga ik kijken?
Ja.
Naar the breaks.

29 januari, 2009

Mijn boek 2

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Goed.
Daar gaat ie dan. Op veler verzoek.

Mijn boek.

"WEG VAN MIJN MOEDER"

Ik ben begin 2005 gaan schrijven.
Aanleiding was de moord op Theo van Gogh - iemand die het vrije woord koesterde en verkondigde. Hem werd, op moorddadige wijze, de mond gesnoerd. Letterlijk de keel doorgesneden.
Dat maakte iets in mij los.

1. In de Tweede Wereldoorlog werden koeriers van verzetskrant Trouw eveneens de mond gesnoerd. Mijn moeder wist uit de handen van de Duitsers te blijven, maar haar maatjes vielen voor het vuurpeleton in Kamp Vught.

2. Ik ben een "tweede generatiekind".
Weliswaar in 1955 geboren, doch opgegroeid met die oorlog. Die verdomde oorlog heeft mijn jeugd en mijn verdere leven bepaald.

Eén en twee raken met elkaar verweven in mijn verhaal. Ik start een nieuwsgierige zoektocht naar de 23-jarige verzetsvrouw die in 1955 mijn moeder wordt.
En daar wil ik het wat de inhoud betreft bij laten.

Er zijn verschillende versies geweest.
De eerste - lijvige - stond veel te dicht bij mijzelf. Uitgevers zagen daar - terecht - niets in.
Maar iedere keer kreeg ik te horen dat het verhaal boeiend was. Ik moest iets aan de vorm doen.

Gedurende de schrijfperiode heb ik verschillende mensen geraadpleegd. Professionals.
Met Lonneke Kok (1976, eindredacteur en schrijver) heb ik het fundament gelegd. Ze gaf mij enorm veel vertrouwen.
Totdat wij te goed bevriend raakten en het boek bijzaak werd. We verdwaalden.

Ik leerde tijdens de onthulling van "de Schreeuw" Maria Heiden (1944, v/h van Gennep boekhandel te Rotterdam en schrijver) kennen. Zij wilde mijn manuscript graag lezen en becommentariëren. Maria is van de details.

Theodor Holman (1953 en net als ik "tweede generatiekind") haalde genadeloos uit. Hij kraste hele bladzijden weg.
Ik kon wel huilen.
Maar nadat ik het herschreven had zag ik dat het verhaal sterker werd.
Schrappen, schaven, polijsten. Eindeloos.

Langzamerhand, met lange pauzes, verfijnde het werk.
Zelf had ik er een "lange termijn project" van gemaakt. De hierboven genoemde personen zagen het echter wel zitten.
Dat gaf mij een enorme "boost".

En alle kenners verzekerden mij dat ik het - als debutant - nog maar aan weinig uitgevers had gestuurd.
Mijn blog kwam er in 2006 bij. Belangrijk voor het fingerspitzengefühl. Het kort en bondig formuleren.

Vorige week stuurde ik de laatste versie naar uitgeverij ASPEKt.
Normaliter ligt een manuscript zo'n drie maanden te liggen.

Vandaag kwam daar - voor mij totaal onverwacht - die positieve brief. Die brief die ik wel tien keer heb gelezen en voorgelezen. Als klap op de vuurpijl belde ook nog de uitgever zelf.

Pas toen wist ik het zeker.

Ik heb een boek geschreven.

Metro

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Noodgedwongen moest ik vanmorgen - tijdens de ochtendspits - met de metro naar de huisarts.

Het liefst had ik mijn ogen gesloten, maar dan was ik de halte misgelopen. Ik verborg mijn gezicht diep in mijn sjaal en probeerde de adem vier haltes lang in te houden.

Als u een zwakke maag heeft, raad ik u aan deze blog over te slaan.

Hoestende mensen, die te lamlendig zijn een hand voor hun mond te houden.
Gapende mensen, die te lamlendig zijn een hand voor hun mond te houden.
Niezende mensen, die te lamlendig zijn een hand voor hun gezicht te houden.
Mensen die luidruchtig hun neus ophalen. Haal op die wekker, snot smaakt lekker.
Neuspeuterende mensen, die van een zout ontbijt houden.
Mensen die zich niet gewassen hebben.
Mensen die zich niet gewassen hebben, maar wel parfum hebben opgespoten.
Mensen die uit hun mond meuren.
Mensen die ergens anders uit meuren.
Mensen die een boterham met pindakaas zitten te eten.
Mensen die luidruchtig een harde appel zitten te eten.
Mensen bij wie de chocopasta nog in de mondhoeken zit.
Mensen met vieze oren.
Mensen met slaap in de ogen.
Mensen bij wie iets uit de neus hangt.
Mensen die oprispingen proberen te onderdrukken................................

Godzijdank, halte dokter.

Met een "goedemorgen Ellen, wat brengt jou hier", begroette mijn fris ruikende huisarts mij.

Daar hoefde ik niet lang over na te denken.

"De metro".

28 januari, 2009

All the Presidents Wives 20

Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur

Born:
August 30, 1837 Culpepper County, Virginia

Died:
January 12, 1880 New York City

Father:
William Lewis Herndon – Navy officer, explorer of the Amazon

Mother:
Frances Elizabeth Hansbrough Herndon

Siblings: None

Physical Description:
Dark eyes, brown hair parted severely in the middle and worn in braids at the back of her head. She had a frail appearance. Her beauty was saved from being insipid by a wide jaw and strong cheekbones. Considered one of the prettiest of the presidents’ wives.
Religion: Episcopalian

Education:
Raised in rural Virginia, Ellen Lewis Herndon had a rich, cultured childhood. The Herndon’s could trace their family back to England in the seventeenth century. Her father’s death at sea, which earned him a statue at Annapolis, left a mark on Ellen’s childhood.
Little is known about Ellen’s education except that she loved music and singing, and even learned to sing opera.
Husband:
Chester Alan Arthur (1829 – 1886)
Courtship and Marriage:
The young Ellen Herndon met Chester Arthur in New York City, where she was visiting with her widowed mother. They were introduced by Ellen’s cousin, Dabney Herndon, who was a medical student. Ellen and Chester has a very brief courtship. He proposed at the U.S. Hotel in Saratoga, New York. They were married at the Calvary Episcopal Church on October 25, 1859.
Age at marriage:
22 years, 56 days
Personality:
Ellen was outgoing, very social and musical. She loved the hustle and bustle of New York life, but separation from her family and the Civil War saddened her greatly. Also an accomplished horsewoman, Ellen Arthur rode frequently. Her greatest trial was that she did not get along well with much of Chester Arthur’s family or friends, and they questioned her loyalty during the war.
Children:
1. William Lewis Herndon Arthur (1860 – 1863)
2. Chester Alan Arthur (1864 – 1937)
3. Ellen Herndon Arthur Pinkerton (1871 – 1915)
Years Before White House:
The Civil War and separation from her mother and other relatives took a heavy tool on Ellen Arthur. Eventually, the Arthurs moved into a lovely home on Lexington Avenue in New York, and Ellen became a leader in society. Often giving opera recitals and musicals to raise money for charities, Ellen Arthur was in demand. Arthur began spending much of his time with political cronies connected with his job as the Collector of Customs for the City of New York. There are stories that Ellen was unhappy with the long hours Chester spent away from home and even considered a separation.
Death:
January 12, 1880. After attending an operatic recital, Ellen Arthur became over-heated and then chilled on her way home. She lapsed into a coma and died two days later without emerging from the coma. Her husband was in Albany when she was taken ill, and did not arrive home before her death.
Age at death:
42 years, 135 days
Legacy:
Ellen left no legacy to the role of presidential wives. Beautiful, gracious and elegant, she would have been an asset to Chester Arthur’s restored, stylish White House had she not died prior to his term.

27 januari, 2009

Napoli Americanos

Wij vertrekken dus aanstaande zaterdag voor een maand naar Naples, Florida.

Daar komen wij nu al zo'n achttien jaar.
We hebben er vier jaar een appartement gehad. Een jaar voordat de recessie inzette verkochten wij het.
Er stond een rij potentiële kopers te trappelen. Mensen uit Memphis wilden het - afgaande op de foto's - kopen. Binnen een week waren we het, voor de vraagprijs, kwijt.

De plek blijft trekken. Zon, zee, strand, golfbanen, comfort, goede hotels, Amerikaanse gastvrijheid, alles makkelijk - niets moeilijk. De VS is en blijft een heerlijk vakantieland.

Februari is meestal een mooie maand met temperaturen rond de 24 graden.
We verlaten Nederland in de grauwe maand en komen terug als het voorjaar in de lucht hangt.

Naples ligt in het zuidwesten van Florida. Ongeveer ter hoogte van Miami, maar dan aan de Golf van Mexico.
Waar we graag komen is het gezellige, flamboyante centrum. Zeer on-Amerikaans, want "downtown" betekent in de VS meestal één dooie lange straat. Amerikanen houden van shopping centers en malls - niet van winkelstraten.

Om en nabij Fifth Avenue is het een drukte van jewelste. Prachtige winkels, galeries en geweldige restaurants.
Wie nog durft te beweren dat het eten in Amerika slecht is, moet zeker een bezoek brengen aan dit culinaire oord.

Toen we hier in 1991 voor het eerst kwamen was er welgeteld één terras.
Amerikanen wilden niet in de warmte zitten. We werden voor gek verklaard als wij op het terras gingen zitten. Chagrijnige koppen van de dienstdoende obers.Anno 2009 heeft ieder restaurant zijn terras. Wachttijden van twee uur zijn geen uitzondering.
Want in Naples wil men (laten) zien en gezien worden. Op een terras zitten is IN.
Wijn drinken is IN. Een fles in een koeler is IN.
Alles wat uit Europa komt is IN.
Er wonen veel Amerikanen met een Italiaanse familienaam. Ze spreken geen woord over de grens, maar trots op hun roots zijn ze.
Er hangt een Sopranosfeer.

Snowbirds van "up north" settelen zich van oktober tot mei in hun "nederige" stulpjes.
Vaak gaan de mannen tussendoor voor hun "business" terug naar het noorden.

We komen ze tegen in restaurants als Pazzo, Campiello, Chops, Vergina, Yabba, Zizi, Bellini en Café Luna.
We genieten van de taferelen.
Er wordt heel wat afgesmoesd tussen mannen met dikke horloges, glad gekamde-bijgekleurde haren, opengeknoopte Florida-shirts en sieraden.

De gebeeldhouwde vrouwen praten met elkaar.
Ze zijn duidelijk getraind. Zoet gehouden met designerskleding en accesoires, behangen met Cartier juwelen en een Ferrari of een dikke SUV talen ze niet naar emancipatie.
Ik heb het zo vaak geschreven. Amerika is een film.
Het centrum van Naples is de set van een reality Maffia-soap.

Wij zijn de onschuldige figuranten.

26 januari, 2009

Appelsap

Je hoort tegenwoordig alleen maar wat je niet mag eten of drinken. Vooral voor producten die in verband staan met het krijgen van kanker word ik - meer dan me lief is - gewaarschuwd.
Dat soort berichten plaats ik liever niet.

Ademhalen is trouwens ook slecht.

Ik ben lichtelijk hypochondrisch, dus vatbaar voor alle bangmakerijen. Op dit moment voel ik een steek in mijn linker borst.

Wel ben ik blij met deze ontdekking.

Appelsap tegen Alzheimer
MASSACHUSETTS - Het drinken van twee glazen appelsap per dag kan mogelijk het begin van de ziekte van Alzheimer uitstellen. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek bij muizen aan de universiteit van Massachusetts.

Ik vrees Alzheimer, vooral het beginstadium.
Appelsap drink ik graag.
Dus:
Two glasses of applejuice a day, keeps the Alzheimer away.

Italiaanse droom is uit

........althans in Piticchio.

Even het geheugen opfrissen.

Thomas en Sandy wonnen de strijd om het - door hen en de andere deelnemers - tot B&B omgebouwde huis. Van het leuke KRO-programma heb ik geen aflevering gemist.

De winnaars mochten een jaar proefdraaien in de "Terrazza". Vervolgens kregen zij de mogelijkheid het te kopen.

Dat laatste gaat niet gebeuren. Thomas en Sandy redden het financieel niet.
Te weing omzet (75,- per kamer) tegen een koopprijs van € 400.000.
Helaas pindakaas.

Thomas en Sandy zijn naar Sicilië verhuisd.

Daar zetten zij de Italiaanse Droom voort.

25 januari, 2009

Buildingmovie

Ja, ik ben een filmfanaat.
****
Vanuit mijn luie bank zou ik van (stomme) films kunnen genieten op het Nationale Nederlandengebouw.
Nou mooi niet, dus.
****
Laat staan dat er mensen op straat in kou en regen gaan staan kijken.
Een duur, leuk, onzin-idee (van de IFFR-denktank) waar je een stijve nek aan overhoudt.

Koffers pakken

Wanneer wij een lange tijd weggaan, begint de verzamelwoede een week van tevoren.
Het zijn altijd prullaria die tijd en plek vergen.
Oplaadkabels, fotospullen, medicijnen, toiletspullen, boeken, stekkers, (lees)brillen, zonnebrillen, lensvloeistoffen, etc. Ik noem dat rommel.
In de koffer gaat meer rommel dan kleren.

Lijstjes maak ik al lang niet meer - op boodschappen na. Wat ik zie pak ik. De logeerkamer is pakkamer.

Vooral sinds die vloeistoffenverordening moeten alle tubes en flesjes in de koffer. Natuurlijk goed verpakt.

Heeft u wel eens een ontplofte tube tandpasta in uw koffer aangetroffen?
Nadat u twintig uur gereisd had? En zo snel mogelijk naar bed wilde - omdat het inmiddels vijf uur Nederlandse tijd was?

Nu heb ik bij de drogist miniverpakkingen gekocht die ik in een ziplockzak wel in de handbagage mee mag nemen. Handig hoor, die kleine busjes en tubetjes.
Drogisterijen te over in Florida. En veel goedkoper.
****
P. heeft inmiddels de koffers naar boven gehaald. Eerst langs Scooby die zich meteen zenuwachtig begon te roeren. Koffers zijn onheilspellend spullen voor haar.
Dus toen manlief met de twee grote koffers binnenkwam, heb ik hem via een sluiproute naar de pakkamer geleid.
*****
Ik verwacht morgenochtend een drol naast haar mand.

23 januari, 2009

Soms.................

.....................borrelt er bij mij een ongekende machteloze woede op. Een agressieve woede.

Zo ook na het zien van de beelden uit Dendermonde.
Daar heeft een "Clockwork Orange - achtige gek" met een enorm mes in een kinderdagverblijf godsgruwelijk toegeslagen.

In "Fabeltjesland" heeft een dierlijke moordpartij plaatsgevonden. Het is niet onder woorden te brengen, maar ik moet er over schrijven. Ik ben er kapot van. Mijn maag zit in mijn keel.

De misdadiger schijnt bekend te zijn bij de politie. Zit te lachen bij de verhoren en legt verschillende verklaringen af. Psychiatrisch patiënt of niet. Ik ben onbarmhartig.

Vandaag ontving ik een reactie op het stuk van Holman.
Ik twijfelde of ik die zou plaatsen.
Niet gedaan. Er stond een oproep tot geweld in ".................dood........"
Aan zo'n reactie ga ik niet eens sleutelen.

Ja, ik weet het. Meten met twee maten.
Dit onmens, dat kinderen van nul tot drie jaar slachtoffert, mag niet leven.

Ik had het bij Dutroux.
Ik had het ook bij die gebeurtenis in Hoogerheide.
Ik heb het altijd wanneer kinderen het slachtoffer zijn.

I'm only human.

De schilder 2

Vandaag heeft Stan Kloos, onze portretteur, foto's van ons gemaakt.

Tevens bracht hij mijn verjaardagscadeau (van manlief) mee. Een gezicht (tekening) op Rotterdam.

Mijn Rotterdam.

22 januari, 2009

Beledigen en beledigd voelen

Hoor wat de leukste dominee van Nederland - DS GREMDAAT - daarover te zeggen heeft.
Met dank aan Bert vanuit San Fransisco.

21 januari, 2009

All the Presidents Wives 19



LUCRETIA RUDOLPH GARFIELD

Born:

Garrettsville, Ohio
19 April, 1832

Father:
Zebulon Rudolph, born 28 February, 1803Shenandoah Valley, Virginia; farmer, carpenter, religious leader, co-founder of Eclectic Institute, Hiram, Ohio; died 1895, Mentor, Ohio

Mother:
Arabella Greene Mason, born April 18th 1810, Hartford, Connecticut, married Hiram, Ohio, 1830; died Hiram, Ohio, 1879

Ancestry:
German, Welsh, English, Irish; Lucretia Garfield's parental great-grandfather immigrated to Pennsylvania (in a part that is now Delaware) from Württemberg, Germany. Her mother's family all originated in New England, the latest immigrating from England six generations before her own. Among her American ancestors were James and Mary Chilton, Pilgrims on the Mayflower.

Lucretia Garfield's ancestry is one of the most extensively-researched of all the First Ladies. Traced back from England, her ancestral charts show that she had roots in France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Scotland, Holland, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Some charts claim that Lucretia Garfield's ancestors from the tenth century could be traced to the French King Boso III, Swedish King Eric VI, Miloslava of Prague, King Diarmait MacMurrough of Wexford, Ireland, Comte Alfonso II de Provence of Palermo, Sicily, Elstrude van Vlaanderen of Flanders, Belgium, Siward Biornsson of Denmark, Count Godfrey d' Eu of Normandy, France, King Garcia I Iniguez of Pamplona, Spain, Hermenegildo Gutierrez of Portugal, Duke Jaroslav I Vladimirovitch of Poland, Russian King Sviatoslav, Joan of Acre of Palestine, and Edmund Eriksson of Birka of Sweden.

Birth Order and Siblings:
Eldest of four; two brothers, one sister: John Rudolph (18??-1863), Joseph Rudolph (?-?), Nellie Rudolph Rockwell (?-?)

Physical Appearance:
Medium height, brown hair, brown eyes

Religious Affiliation:
Disciple of Christ

Education:
Garrettsville Public Grammar School, 1838-1847, Garrettsville, Ohio; Geauga Seminary, 1847-1849, Chester, Ohio where she was a boarding student and took a course of study that focused on Greek and Latin, and also included algebra, science, geography and music; Hiram Eclectic Institute, 1850 -1855, Hiram, Ohio, although a non-sectarian institution that her father helped found, the college was founded by members of the Disciples of Christ faith and offered training in preaching. At the school, she studied French and took a rigorous classical course of study, continuing in Greek and Latin and widening her expertise in classical literature, British literature and French literature. She helped to organize a literary society which staged elocution, debate and oratorical presentations, often taking to the stage herself and defending the rights of women to do so at a time when many men considered it improper for women to so publicly present themselves. She also worked as editor and illustrator of The Eclectic Star, a school magazine.

Occupation before Marriage:
Upon her graduation, Lucretia Garfield had pursued a career as a teacher of French, algebra and Latin at the Eclectic Institute. From here, she moved away from home to take a teaching job at Ravenna, Ohio, proud to be "on her own." After receiving a note from her former Greek teacher at the Eclectic Institute, James Garfield, now attending WilliamsCollege in Massachusetts, they began a long correspondence. Although she quickly found herself drawn to him he confessed his fear of commitment to someone who did not display outright emotion or give freely of physical affection. When she came to attend his graduation, she was upset to discover the presence of another young woman, Rebecca Selleck with whom Garfield soon admitted to carrying on a romance. Garfield nevertheless appreciated the depth of intellect possessed by "Crete" as she was called. They had an understanding of future marriage and she left her teaching job, prepared to be a full-time wife and mother. Nevertheless, when it seemed that they would not be married, Crete Rudolph decided to return to work, taking a job as a teacher in Cleveland, Ohio rather than returning to her hometown. She rented a room at a boardinghouse and also took drawing lessons, pursuing a talent she had long wished to, attended lectures, theater, musical concerts and art shows. In the spring of 1858, she began a stint as an art teacher in Bryan, Ohio. That summer Garfield proposed marriage and she again accepted, although she felt he was interested in her out of "duty" and not "passion." Facetiously, she even sent him an invitation to his own wedding.

Marriage:
26 years old to James Abram Garfield (19 November, 1831 - 19 September, 1881), Eclectic Institute teacher, Disciples of Christ preacher, on 11 November, 1858 in yard of her parents home, Hiram, Ohio. The Garfields did not honeymoon after their wedding but moved into two rented rooms on the second floor of a home in Hiram.

Children:
Two daughters, five sons;
Eliza Arabella "Trot" Garfield (July 3, 1860-December 3, 1863);
Harry Augustus "Hal" Garfield (October 11, 1863-December 12, 1942);
James "Jim" Rudolf Garfield (October 17, 1865-March 24, 1950);
Mary "Mollie" Garfield Stanley-Brown (January 16, 1867-December 30, 1947);
Irvin McDowell Garfield August 3, 1870-July 18, 1951)
Abram Garfield (November 21, 1872-October 16, 1958);
Edward Garfield (December 25, 1874-October 25, 1876)

A professor at Princeton University , president of Williams College , Harry Garfield also went on to serve as Fuel Administrator during World War I under Woodrow Wilson. Jim Garfield served as Interior Secretary in the Cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Occupation after Marriage:
As they had done before their marriage, they continued a lengthy correspondence during the early years of their marriage, which were largely spent apart from each other. Self-admittedly a dispassionate person, Lucretia Garfield expressed herself succinctly and pointedly in her well-honed prose. She expressed to her husband the tremendous degree of frustration and anger she felt towards him for his lack of passion towards her, his frequent absences from home, her being left with the responsibility for his demanding mother and enduring the presence of one boarder, his admiring woman teacher and friend Almeda Booth. With his serving in the Union Army and as a member of Congress in Washington, she calculated that they had spent a total of six weeks together during their first six years of marriage. Garfield frankly expressed his regrets at their marriage and also pursued a love affair with a New York woman, Lucia Calhoun which he later greatly regretted and confessed to his wife. After the death of their first child and more separation, Garfield later firmly committed himself to the marriage and it blossomed even further in their mutual love of literature and the classics. In 1869, they built a large home in Washington, D.C. so Lucretia Garfield and their children could live year-round with James Garfield. Crete set aside one room for herself which she was able to write, read and paint in private. She often expressed her frustrations at the expectations of being a wife and mother, yet believed that it was ultimately a situation that could be enjoyed by adjusting one's attitude. With her constant presence in his public life now, Congressman Garfield came to rely on her advice, and he later commented that whenever he sought her help, she was discreet and wise. They together joined the Burns Literary Society on Capitol Hill.

Presidential Campaign and Inauguration:
Lucretia Garfield initially opposed her husband's run for the presidency and had even opposed even sitting for a formal photograph for public dissemination. When the Republican convention commenced in June 1880, however, she confessed that she wanted her husband to be the clear choice of his party, not a compromise choice. She was scrubbing a floor in her bonnet when she was interrupted with the news of his nomination. When he was nominated, he wrote telling her that he would accept the nomination only with her approval. Despite expressing her wariness of the personal cost to come with such an honor she was willing to compromise her privacy for her husband's success. Lucretia Garfield was one of the first presidential candidate's wives to appear on a campaign poster, currently in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. One of the first "front porch" campaigns was conducted from their Mentor, Ohio farm, "Lawnfield," and thus she was able to occupy a semi-official role without compromising her sense of propriety regarding women's exposure to public life: the front porch may have been where the candidate appeared before large contingents of voters coming to hear him speak, but it was also her private home. In one corner of their property there was even a campaign office equipped with telegraph facilities from which election returns were received.

After the election, she traveled to New York under the assumed name of "Mrs. Greenfield" and served as a liaison between Garfield and a member of the New York Republican faction, the "Stalwarts," Roscoe Conkling to discuss Cabinet suggestions. She did so reluctantly since she did not approve of Conkling due to his affair with a woman named Kate Chase. While in New York, she consulted with her host Whitelaw Reid on the political potential of various political figures. She advised against the naming of one Thaddeus Pound of Wisconsin to the Cabinet because of an earlier indiscretion on his part, yet urged the appointment of James Blaine because he had married the woman who bore his first child. Garfield supported her suggestions by not appointing Pound but naming Blaine as Secretary of State.

At the Inauguration ceremony of her husband, Lucretia Garfield found herself befriended by the outgoing First Lady, a fellow Ohioan Lucy Hayes. At the ceremony, Garfield first turned to kiss his mother rather than his wife. Lucretia Garfield wore a purple dress to the Inaugural Ball, which was highlighted by the first display of electricity at such an event.

First Lady:
4 March, 1881 - 19 September, 1881
48 years old

Initially uncomfortable with the public scrutiny that came with being First Lady, Lucretia Garfield soon proved herself decisive regarding the many aspects of the traditional role that she faced. She resisted pressure from Ohio Republican and temperance colleagues of her husband and refused to continue the total ban on alcoholic beverages in the White House that had been initiated by the Hayes Administration, and even confessed to her husband that she often drank some wine in the evening to relax. A notation in her papers suggests that she intended to invite celebrated writers, artists and musicians to the White House as dinner guests. As individuals she met often shared their memories and stories of past Presidential families with her, an interest in the mansion's history was sparked in Lucretia Garfield. She intended to conduct a redecoration of the White House that would include an effort to recreate some historical ambience that recalled the earlier residents of the mansion, and went with the President to the Library of Congress to conduct some preliminary research on what the rooms had once looked like. She also made at least one independent trip to New York to see decorators and also found herself on that trip the unwitting object of public attention that rapidly drew a crowd.

Her White House diary that chronicled her few active weeks as First Lady shows Lucretia Garfield's willingness to participate in political intrigue and show her to be an active Republican partisan. She particularly distrusted the New York faction of Republicans, the "Stalwarts." In a marked departure from her predecessors, Lucretia Garfield also granted at least one press interview and willingly discussed political matters; when the interviewer pressed her own opinion that the President was too greatly influenced by the Secretary of State, the First Lady recorded that she "made her understand that the President knew…the men around him…and I took the opportunity to make her know that I regard Mr. Blaine as - not only brilliant…but…full of good impulses…" Despite her strong views, she was also capable of forgiving what she considered past political opponents: once in the White House, Lucretia Garfield joined the President in hosting an informal breakfast for former President Grant who had permitted his name to be circulated as a challenger to Garfield for the Republican nomination, and Grant's wife, who had especially encouraged the contest.

Lucretia Garfield resisted involving herself in facilitating federal positions. She likewise decided against supporting "dress reform" for women that called for less constricting clothing, considering it a potential step in the breakdown of the traditional family. She did, however, show what might have developed into support of a particular constituency, the blind. In one letter to a friend Laura Bridgman, the first deaf-blind person to be successfully educated in the United States, mentioned her corresponding relationship that with the new president's wife. Whatever public cause she may have intended to support, her active public role came to a sudden halt in early May of 1881 when she contracted malaria and nearly died in the White House. The President recorded that he found himself unable to conduct the affairs of government, so distracted was he at the mere thought of her demise.

Several days before she contracted her illness, Lucretia Garfield had welcomed among her guests at an open reception one Charles Guiteau, an unhinged adherent of the Stalwarts, most frequently identified as a disappointed office-seeker. He found her "chatty and comfortable." Once she began to recover, Lucretia Garfield was sent to the New Jersey seaside, at Elberon, where it was thought that the salt air would be conducive to her recovery. Escorted to the Washington train station by the President, she appeared so weak and thin that Guiteau could not bring himself to shoot Garfield, as he had intended, wishing to spare the First Lady the anguish of witnessing his possible assassination. Guiteau did shoot Garfield on July 2. Lucretia Garfield rushed back to Washington to nurse him and take charge of the White House, showing a remarkable calm and courage that won her widespread admiration. The President was moved to Elberon in an attempt to make him more comfortable and to help his recovery. The move was fruitless. James A. Garfield died September 19, 1881 with his wife, Lucretia, and daughter, Mollie, at his side. Lucretia took over the funeral and burial arrangements. Throughout the long months of his lingering life, the nation's newspapers reported in detail how the First Lady managed herself and encouraged the President, often idealizing her and ignoring her genuine fear and weariness.

Although she did not publicly support the public fight for women's suffrage because she felt that the organized leadership assumed aggressive tactics to earn the vote for women, Lucretia Garfield strongly supported their ultimate goal. Her daughter attested to the fact that even as an older woman, Lucretia Garfield vigorously believed in "equality of the sexes" and saw "no reason why woman should not be entitled to all the privileges that men enjoy." When Congress was determining the payment that was due to the late President's doctors and recommended paying his male physician $1,000 but awarding half of that amount to his female physician, Lucretia Garfield declared it to be "discrimination" and insisted on pay equity between them: the woman doctor was also given $1,000.

Post-Presidential Life:
With her optimism and strength during her husband's illness, and her stoicism throughout his funeral services, Lucretia Garfield was held up by the nation's newspapers as a role model for American women. An outpouring of national support translated itself into a trust fund for her and her children that totaled $360,000; this in addition to the $5,000 annual congressional pension she was awarded left Lucretia Garfield a wealthy woman for the rest of her life. Her most immediate responsibility was in continuing the superior educations of all of her children. She also took direct care of her aged father, moving him into her home where he lived until the age of 94.

Lucretia Garfield then focused on various memorials to her husband. She was directly involved in the design and building of his burial monument in Cleveland. With the intention of someday writing a memoir about her late husband based on his letters, she eventually created the first presidential library, a research room and a vault that held his papers that were housed in a wing she added to their home. She consulted with the sculptor Charles Niehaus who created the standing figure of the late president that stood in Cincinnati as well as the bust of him that would eventually be displayed in the President’s Room of the U.S. Capitol. She also kept a firm control over her husband's letters, consistently refusing permission for their use by those who wrote her requesting their use; she wished to first have them all published in an authorized biography of him, a task eventually accomplished after her death.

Lucretia Garfield also maintained the interests of her earlier life. After moving to South Pasadena, California in 1901 because of its milder winters, she joined a literary club, where she delivered frequent talks on books she had read. She also continued to write precise essays on subjects that ranged from the deteriorating manners of children to the reliability of corn as a cash crop. She developed a fascination with architecture and engineering as well. Overseeing improvements and enlargements to the original farmhouse she and Garfield had purchased in 1876, it eventually became a massive Victorian mansion. She took especial interest in the design and construction of a well and water tower and a large windmill that pumped water into the storage tank on the property. The project involved complicated hydraulic engineering that the widowed president's wife fully comprehended. When she became exasperated with the cost and construction, she wrote that she would "oversee the whole thing myself. I built a home once, bought all material and hired the workmen and although it was in wartime, I have never done anything so cheaply since, nor ever had anything better done." Lucretia Garfield took a direct role in the design of her extraordinary Pasadena home built in the Arts and Crafts style, designed in 1904 by a distant relative of the prestigious Greene & Greene firm. She was also a prominent figure driven in the annual Tournament of the Roses parade on New Year's Day in Pasadena.

At various points in her later life, she lived briefly in England and Massachusetts. For many winters after her husband's death, the former First Lady continued to live in Washington, and she was a frequent guest of her successors Frances Cleveland and Ida McKinley, and corresponded with other former First Ladies Julia Tyler and Harriet Lane. Although she refused to grant interviews or even to have pictures of herself and her children printed in newspapers, she had an active interest in presidential politics. Having never trusted Chester Arthur, the vice president who assumed the presidency upon the death of her husband, she had no further contact with him following the funeral. When former President Theodore Roosevelt ran again for the presidency as a Progressive Party candidate, she came to hear him speak in Los Angeles and avidly supported him. She eventually came to support the Democratic Party under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson, in whose Cabinet her son served. During World War I, she volunteered with a Red Cross Unit in Pasadena, California.

Death:
85 years, 329 days
Pasadena, California

Burial:
Garfield Tomb, LakeviewCemetery, Cleveland, Ohio

20 januari, 2009

Laura Bush over Barack Obama

Hier de video waarover schreef.

The Change





















The bad old days hebben vandaag hopelijk plaats gemaakt voor the good new ones.

Barack Obama's speech duurde lang, zat vol metaforen en werd perfect voorgedragen. Ga ik de missers van Bush nu al missen?

Het was koud, maar Aretha's stem leek daar niet onder te lijden. The Queen of Soul mag graag op Democratische feestjes optreden. Ook bij de Clintons verscheen ze regelmatig op het toneel.

De camera's waren niet op the Bushes gericht tijdens de 'Martin Luther Kingachtige' rede van Obama. Jammer, want ik pikte toch wel wat insinuaties op. Laura Bush had zich bij Larry King laten ontvallen niet blij te zijn met de uitspraken van Barack.

Barack, die voor het eerst zijn donkere hart luid liet spreken. Goed of niet: daar doe ik geen uitspraak over. Het is bijzonder dat Amerika een "zwarte" president heeft. In die mogelijkheid heb ik nooit in geloofd.

Ik vrees voor zijn leven.

Wij kunnen dan wel zo laaiend enthousiast zijn dat Bush (en de Republikeinen) het niet meer voor het zeggen hebben - in eigen land is Obama allesbehalve geliefd. De rampzalige Bush was voor vele (ex) Republikeinen aanleiding een noodzakelijke - met tegenzin genomen - turn te nemen. En juist die Amerikanen loeren op de eerste misstap van de nieuwe president. Hoe klein ook.

Het ging bij de eed even fout, maar dat lag aan the judge - niet aan Obama.

Ik kan er niets aan doen. Tijdens deze ceremonie gingen regelmatig de haren overeind. Die ongekende hypocrisie. Die schijnheilige koppen. God-fearing people.

Ongeacht de politieke kleur: het blijft een religieuze bijeenkomst. Er wordt veel gebeden en gerefereerd aan god.

Diezelfde god die Dick Cheney al verwezen had naar de rolstoel, nadat hij hem eerst verhuisdozen had laten sjouwen.

Fashion online 9

Daar is ie weer. De onweerstaanbaar mooie Gucci-collectie van komend voorjaar.

19 januari, 2009

De schilder

"Morgen komt de schilder", zei ik gisteren tegen mijn zoon.
Verbaasd keek hij om zich heen. "Is het nu al nodig?"

Zoonkind wordt binnenkort dertig jaar. Voor hem is dat een mijlpaal.
Voor mij is het wellicht een nog grotere snak naar adem.

"Wat wil je hebben voor je verjaardag? We willen je graag iets bijzonders - persoonlijks geven".
Ik dacht dat hij wel iets uit de familiecollectie zou kiezen. Tegelijk vreesde ik iets te moeten afstaan, waar ik erg aan gehecht ben.

Nee dus.
Zijn antwoord verraste mij - ons.
"Een schilderij (portret) van jullie. P en jij op één doek".

Ik ben direct naar mijn onderbuurman WOODY VAN AMEN - DE POP ART kunstenaar - gegaan.
Ja, die wist zeker een goede portretschilder. STAN KLOOS
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Hij is vandaag zijn werk komen laten zien. Mooi!
Er staat voor vrijdag een tweede afspraak.
Stan is tevens dichter. Een rasechte Rotterdammer die barst van de creativiteit.
Vooral zijn stadsgezichten spreken mij enorm aan. Die verkopen ook erg goed.
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Stan schildert in verschillende stijlen.
Mocht zoonlief niet mooi vinden wat wij hebben uitgekozen, dan heeft hij pech.
En wij mazzel.

17 januari, 2009

Markt - Malaise

Januari is een kwakkelmaand voor de middenstand. Mensen houden de hand op de knip na de dure decemberdagen.

Waarom het toch zo bomvol is in de stad weet ik niet.
Uitverkoop?

Op dinsdag en zaterdag ga ik voor bloemen, groente en fruit naar de markt. Altijd aan het eind van de middag. Dan zijn ze goedgeefs.
Zo ook vandaag.

De bloemenman stond te klagen en riep naar zijn collega aan de overkant:
"'T is niks vandaag Sjon".
"Geld bijleggen", reageerde Sjon.

Dus kreeg ik naast de vijf bossen, die ik voor een habbekrats had gekocht, nog eens twee bossen cadeau.
"Ik moet los, mevrouw".

Ook de groenteman had een gulle bui.
Een tros bananen voor € 1,-. Twee kilo witlof voor €1,50
Hij stopte nog een enorme tros bananen in mijn tas.
"Ik moet los, mevrouw".
Wat ik met twintig bananen moet, weet ik niet. Maar een gegeven tros..............................

Zo kwam ik thuis met een mand vol boodschappen waar ik hooguit €12,- voor betaalde.
Laat de marktkooplui maar klagen.

Op de markt is mijn euro nog wat waard.

BLUENITY



Heb ik Skype iets later dan anderen ontdekt, vandaag denk ik toch een primeur te hebben.
Als KLM-milesspaarder ontving ik deze post:

Bent u geïnteresseerd in de reiservaringen van andere AIR FRANCE KLM-reizigers?

AIR FRANCE KLM nodigt u graag uit om deel te nemen aan Bluenity : de nieuwe community op het internet voor iedereen die reist.

Via bluenity.com legt u contact met andere AIR FRANCE KLM-reizigers. Zo kunt u samen een reis plannen, een taxirit delen of zelfs een huurauto…

Vind tips en leuke adressen van uw bestemming en lees de meningen van andere reizigers vanuit alle delen van de wereld. Deel uw eigen ervaringen over shops, restaurants, hotels en evenementen met andere Bluenity-leden.

Houd contact met uw persoonlijke en professionele netwerk, ook als u op reis bent.
De KLM begint haar eigen chatclub. Althans, zo vat ik het op.

Wie volgt?

ABNAmro, "hoi Jan - de pinautomaat op de Willemskade was weer eens buiten werking. Hoe is de stand van zaken bij jouw kantoor? groeten Wim"

Unilever, "heeft er iemand ervaring met de nieuwe gezoete halvarine van Smeerzacht? Thea" .

Shell, "bah, de wc bij het tankstation aan de Buitenstraat in Knisperveen was vies. Anoniem".

Je zal maar om een praatje verlegen zitten.

16 januari, 2009

Idool

Als vrouw van middelbare leeftijd kan ik nog behoorlijk hitserig dromen van een acteur als Benicio del Toro.

Niet alleen vind ik hem buitengewoon aantrekkelijk, ook zijn rollen zijn van uitmuntende klasse.

Ik zag hem voor het eerst als schurk in License to Kill (1989). Vervolgens kwamen The Usual Suspects (1994), Traffic (2000, Oscar voor de beste mannelijke bijrol) en 21 Grams (2003). Op de IMBDsite staat een waslijst aan vertolkingen.
Ik pak gemakshalve de bekendste films er even uit.

Nu schittert hij - en dat durf ik best bij voorbaat te zeggen - in CHE (over het leven van che guevara). Geen idee wanneer hij in Nederland gaat draaien. Van wat ik uit de video opmaak, is de film vanwege de extreme lengte in tweeën gesplitst.

Ik denk dat ik over twee weken maar even naar de VS vlieg om een filmpje te pakken.

15 januari, 2009

de Wolf-taal

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Vanavond zat John de Wolf (oud-Feijenoordspeler) een beetje te vissen in de lege Feijenoordvijver. Zijn hart ligt nog steeds in Rotterdam Zuid. John zou best wel assistent-trainer willen worden.

Het ging natuurlijk ook over de Spartaanse aanpak van Gert Jan Verbeek.

Cruijff is onnavolgbaar, maar John kan er ook wat van.

Ik tekende de volgende zinnen op:

".................tegen het harnas werken................"
".....als een olifant in de porceleinen kast............"
"...........daar moet je je oor naar luisteren........."

Als de spelers hem maar begrijpen.

Heus, 't is uw keus

*****************************************************
Wat heerlijk mensen. U mag weer eens stemmen en nog wel vanuit uw luie stoel.

Het betreft de verkiezing van de Dichter des Vaderlands.

De kandidaten zijn:
Tsead Bruinja,
Joke van Leeuwen,
Erik Menkveld,
Ramsey Nasr,
Hagar Peeters.

Bij deze de link naar de site.

Als u een notoire stemmer bent, dan hoeft u geen verstand van poëzie te hebben. Kijk naar de foto's en pak de leukste, zou ik zo zeggen.
De echte liefhebbers weten natuurlijk precies op wie ze moeten stemmen.

Ik val buiten bovenstaande categorieën en geef mijn portie aan Fikkie.

Feijenoord

*************************
Trainer weg
Assistent-trainer weg
Technisch directeur weg

Wat overblijft is de selectie van het eerste elftal.

Ik ben tegen geweld.
Maar de spelers zouden een pak op hun sodemieter moeten hebben.
In de vorm van salarisinhouding - of onthouding.

Geen daden? Geen inkomen!!!!

14 januari, 2009

Webtelefoneren

Een nieuw (gratis) speeltje: SKYPE

Ben je thuis, heeft je PC of laptop een microfoon en speakers - evenals degeen die je wilt bellen natuurlijk, dan spaar je nogal wat uit.

Ik heb het zojuist geinstalleerd. Het lijkt mij ideaal wanneer ik vanuit het buitenland wil communiceren met zoonlief.

Zo staat het op de site:
Maak uw gesprekken gratis
Gesprekken tussen Skype-gebruikers zijn altijd gratis. Maar dat is nog lang niet alles.
Gratis bellen naar mensen op Skype
Gratis instant messenger
Gratis videogesprekken Cheap SMS
Cheap calls to phones worldwide
-->
...en nog veel meer. Om Skype te kunnen gebruiken hebt u een computer met breedbandverbinding, speakers en microfoon nodig.
Nu downloaden

Mijn inbox stroomt vol met e-mails van eenzelfde toonaard: "Je loopt achter El. Je loopt vreselijk achter".

Post


All the Presidents Wives 18


LUCY WARE WEBB HAYES

Birth: 28 August 1831 Chillicothe, Ohio
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Father:Dr. James Webb, born 17 March 1795, Lexington, Kentucky, physician, died 1 July 1833, Lexington, Kentucky
Despite his family’s ownership of slaves, physician James Webb was an abolitionist. After inheriting a dozen and a half slaves he returned to his family home to free them but found most of his family suffering from cholera. He attempted to bring them to recovery but not only did both his parents and brother die but he did as well.
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Mother: Maria Cook Webb, born 9 March 1801, Chillicothe, married 18 April 1826 at Willow Branch Farm, near Scioto River, Chillicothe, Ohio; died 14 September 1866
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Ancestry:
English, French, Irish; all of Lucy Hayes’s ancestors came to the United States from England. Nine generations before her, one paternal ancestor John Vassall was born in Normandy, France in 1544 and immigrated to England. Ten generations before her, also through paternal ancestry, one Mary Briden was born in Dublin Ireland on 23 December 1566.
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Siblings:Third of three,
two brothers: Joseph Thompson Webb (1827 – 27 April 1880), James Dewees (1828 – 12 June 1873) -
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Physical Appearance:5 feet, 4 inches, black hair, brown eyes
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Religion:Methodist
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Education:
Miss Baskerville School, Chillicothe Female School, Chillicothe, Ohio, approximately 1837-1844 No extant records provide documentation on what course of study Lucy Webb was taught at these two known schools she first attended; anecdotal evidence suggests she was outspoken as a young girl when a stern teacher reprimanded her little cousin; Ohio Wesleyan Prepatory Department, Delaware, Ohio, 1844-1847, among the studies of Lucy Webb at this school were French, composition, grammar and penmanship, and she also received merit points for conduct; Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1847-1850, she boarded away from home and joined a student body of 400, and was described as "diligent." Her studies likely included rhetoric, geometry, geology, astronomy, trigonometry, mental and moral science, German, French, drawing, painting, music. Weekly, she was required to write a topical essay and, or taking a side in a debate. The subjects she addressed included: Which Requires the Greater Sacrifices of Its Votaries, Religion or Vice, Has the World Degenerated Since the Fall, Is Knowledge Necessarily Active, Is Emulation a Greater Promotive of Literary Excellence than Personal Necessity, The Importance of Refined Taste, Is Traveling on the Sabbath Consistent With Christian Principles, Is the Advancement of Civil Society More Indebted to Intellectual Culture than Physical Suffering, Has Society a Right to Prohibit the Manufacture and Sale of Ardent Spirits and Is America Advancing in Mental and Moral Improvement, Her views reflected a highly religious, moralistic attitude influenced by the Methodist mission of the school, as well as that of her pro-temperance grandfather. She also expressed the view of equal intellectual capacity between the genders. "Instead of being considered the slave of man, she is considered his equal in all things, and his superior in some." She was elected to the Lyceum, an academic honor. Her graduation speech topic was The Influence of Christianity on National Prosperity. Earning a liberal arts degree, she was the first First Lady to graduate school with a higher education degree, there being some uncertainty about the classification of the school as a bona fide college in rank with similar educational institutions for women at the time, such as Mount Holyoke College.
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Occupation Before Marriage:
The family of her widowed mother had great influence on Lucy Webb Hayes in her early years. As was her late father, her mother was a rabid abolitionist. Under the influence of her maternal grandfather Isaac Webb, a representative in the Ohio legislature, she signed a pledge to forsake drinking any alcoholic beverages. She became a lifelong and fervent advocate of temperance, but resisted joining the organized movement. Similarly, despite believing strongly in her family’s radical abolitionism, Lucy Webb was ambivalent about public activism on behalf of a social-political movement. Nevertheless, inspired by the temperance activist John B. Gough for his "turning the heads of the most hidebound sinners," she wrote family members of her disapproval of the serving of wine at parties, "to me no sight more sorrowful." As a Methodist trained in the principals of John Wesley that Christian duty required her to help others, she aided one impoverished family with household necessities and medicine.
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Marriage:
21 years old on 30 December 1852, in the Webb family home, Cincinnati, Ohio to Rutherford Birchard Hayes, born 4 October 1822, lawyer, died 17 January 1893, Fremont, Ohio; Prior to being formally courted by Hayes, there are indications that Lucy Webb dated a Mr. Orr, and then a John Wright. The mother of Hayes, a friend of Lucy’s mother, had long encouraged a match between the two, being especially drawn to Lucy Webb’s moral and religious character. Hayes had a previous relationship with a Helen Kelley. Hayes fell in love with Lucy Webb, but had reservations about her intellectual worldliness, and believed that if she read a wider diversity of literature, practiced writing, and had more frequent and closer contact with cultivated and intellectual individuals that she would enlarge herself to her fullest mental capacities. Lucy Webb readily admitted that she disliked writing. She teasingly suggested he write her two letters for her every one. Throughout her life, she would write letters sparingly, but often included self-deprecatory humor. They were engaged for a year prior to marriage.
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Children: Eight children, seven sons, one daughter;
Birchard Austin Hayes (1853 – 1926),
Webb Cook Hayes (1856 – 1934),
Rutherford Platt Hayes (1858 – 1927),
Joseph Thompson Hayes (1861 – 1863),
George Crook Hayes (1864 – 1866),
Fanny Hayes Smith (1867 – 1950),
Scott Russell Hayes (1871 – 1923),
Manning Force Hayes (1873 – 1874)
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Occupation After Marriage:
Although Lucy Hayes attended a women’s suffrage lecture by Lucy Stone and spoke in favor of wage scale reform for women workers under the influence of her husband’s sister Fanny, her interested faded once her sister-in-law died and she became engrossed in the traditional responsibilities of housekeeping and motherhood. On the issue of abolition, Lucy Hayes remained firm, once even placing an abandoned African-American child in the safe "Negro Orphan’s Asylum." She furthermore taught her free black servant Eliza Jane how to read and write and approved of a racially-integrated Methodist Church service she attended in Montreal, Canada. It also led to her early support of the newly-formed, pro-abolition Republican Party. She had hoped the 1856 Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont would have won the election, and that his colorful wife Jessie Benton. "Lucy takes it to heart a good deal that Jessie is not to be mistress of the White House," Hayes wrote at the time. She and her husband were part of a Cincinnati welcoming committee when president-elect Abraham Lincoln came through their city on the way to his Inauguration.
Although neither Hayes had believed war was necessary to end slavery, once the conflict began Lucy Hayes encouraged her husband to join the Union Army. She even lamented that women hadn’t been a regiment at Fort Sumter, for they would not have surrendered. "It is a hard thing to be a woman," she wrote at the time, "and witness so much and yet not do any thing." Part of her frustration stemmed from a lack of inside information on political decisions; she had no concept, for example, of President Lincoln’s problems with Border States and his dismissal of her political hero Fremont, which she resented. She nevertheless supported Lincoln in his 1864 re-election bid.
Of the five children she had given birth to and raised during the Civil War period, Lucy Hayes lost two sons, and also took responsibility for her mother and her mother-in-law, both of whom died in the fall of 1866. She also took in two wounded Union soldiers. She did not spend the Civil War entirely at home but at the front. In September 1862, for example, when her husband’s arm was hit by a musket ball and he bid her to his side, she ventured first, mistakenly, to Washington, D.C. and then to Middletown, Maryland, where she finally helped nurse him back to help. She continued to visit his encampments, helping in the tent hospitals, sewing and cooking for, and befriending many of those who served under her husband, who resigned with the status of General. She was given the sobriquet "Mother of the Regiment."
With Hayes’s election to Congress, Lucy Hayes split her time between Washington, D.C. President Andrew Johnson gave her a "felling of honesty and sincerity," and General Grant was "noble" and "unassuming." In time she came to vigorously oppose Johnson’s conciliatory policy towards the defeated South and declared herself among the "Radical" Republicans who supported legislation directly aiding in providing some civil rights to freed slaves specifically and African-Americans in general. Accompanying her husband and a congressional delegation through the South, Lucy Hayes spoke with southern women about her support of "Negro suffrage," while they politely explained their opposition. In Washington, Lucy Hayes also sat in the visitor’s gallery at the Capitol and took in congressional debates on the full range of political issues under considerable. She came to be her husband’s political confidante on matters he faced in his position.
Pregnant with her only daughter when Hayes ran for governor in 1867, she played a crucial political role once he won the election and commenced his term. With an agenda of reform of welfare institutions, Lucy Hayes worked to create an Ohio orphanage for the children of Civil War veterans through private contributions when the state legislature opposed creating one with public funds. Quietly, however, she successfully bore down on individual legislators to purchase, fund and convert the private institution into one run by the state. Such institutions became her primary public concern: she made visits to the state reform school in Lancaster, Ohio, taught blind, mute and deaf patients, and helped to create memorial wreaths for the graves of Ohio Civil War veterans on "Decoration Day," as Memorial Day was previously known. Her interests also reach to international politics such as the Franco-Prussian War; because it had supported the Union during the war, she supported Prussia. "Sometimes I think I am tired of politics," she wrote at the time. "and then again it is pleasant." She seemed to change her earlier views on women’s suffrage, and even disagree with two of her aunts who strongly supported it; she agreed with her husband’s stated view that "maternity is inconsistent with the like discharge of (the political duties of) citizenship." She also resisted joining any formal temperance movement or join in any such public activities for fear of its affect on her husband’s political career, especially among the sizeable German-American population of Ohio, which vigorously opposed it. By 1875, the family had relocated to the Fremont, Ohio estate of Hayes’s uncle, "Spiegel Grove."
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Campaign and Inauguration:
Lucy Hayes did not initially support the popular movement to make Governor Hayes the Republican presidential candidate in 1876. At his "notification" ceremony that he had won the nomination, she became the subject of newspaper coverage, including publications from outside the state. At the local ceremony following his nomination, she was also honored with three cheers, as was the governor. "By the way if there any lady in the United States that would make an accomplished and brilliant President’s wife it is Mrs. Hayes," one story ran. At least one correspondent expressed the view that her personal popularity would aid her husband because the wives of male voters liked her domestic nature and would influence their husbands to vote for Hayes. Lucy Hayes was in attendance at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia on Ohio day, further increasing her national profile. She was especially depressed the day after the election when Hayes seemed to lose the election, particularly his home state yet when the disputed election was resolved – under a cloud of suspicion – in favor of Hayes just prior to the inauguration, she joined him in Washington at a White House reception hosted by outgoing President Grant, where her husband was secretly sworn in. In black dress, black bonnet and with her black hair parted simply in the middle of her forehead, she stood out the next day on the Inaugural stand, when he took the oath of office publicly. Her appearance generated a great amount of press, perhaps more newspaper coverage on a new president’s wife than any previous inauguration day.
Although reporter Mary Clemmer Ames referred to her as the "first lady of the land," it was not the first time a president’s wife was titled as such in the press, as has been widely written. Mary Todd Lincoln, for example, was called First Lady in numerous publications, as was her immediate predecessor Harriet Lane, the niece and hostess of bachelor president James Buchanan.
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First Lady: (4 March 1877 – 4 March 1881)
With her popularity in the press and the fact that she was the first First Lady to have graduated with a higher education degree, there were high expectations for and pressures placed upon Lucy Hayes during her tenure, most especially from women activists advocating substantial temperance reform and passage of women’s suffrage. Lucy Hayes was particularly pursued by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for her national profile but the group’s efforts to enlist her as a leader failed. She steadfastly refused to lend her name or any implicit support to the controversial cause, for fear of political damage to her husband. The incident that sparked the national association of the issue with her was the decision to ban all alcoholic beverages from all entertainments, including state dinners. It was a decision reached after the first state dinner, for the Grand Dukes Alexis and Constantine, sons of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in April 1877. It was actually the President who made the decision, recognizing how vital the support of the Prohibition Party was to the Republican Party. A teetotaler since her youth, the First Lady strongly her husband’s decision – but she would nevertheless be ridiculed for the policy: caricatured on a wine bottle with a prudish expression, smiling in a water bottle. The nickname "Lemonade Lucy" cannot be specifically dated to the Hayes Administration, although there were anecdotes about her serving lemonade that was reddish in color and which she feared was wine until the President was posed as calming her that it was only a mashed berry in the lemonade. "Water flowed like wine," joked Congressman James Garfield, who was elected the succeeding President." She was nevertheless credited with giving temperance supporters enough courage to now publicly express their views and held up as a moral example for Ohio schoolchildren who read about her in their textbooks.
She was also petitioned to speak out publicly in encouraging women to seek higher education as she had done with her own life. "You are the representative of the women of our Country, & to you I confide their advocacy with the President to insert a sentence in his regular message on the subject of their education," one friend unsuccessfully urged her. The Dean of the Philadelphia Women’s Medical College told her she was "the genuine, educated Christian American Woman" and could positively influence "higher education of women as developed in professional study." Invited to attend the school’s commencement, Lucy Hayes did stop briefly at the institution. She refused to respond to pleas that she say a word of support to the President on behalf of an effort to have the work of American businesswomen highlighted in a display at the International Exhibition in Paris. However, President Hayes later agreed to this, so it may be that in private
Lucy Hayes did influence this decision. Lucy Hayes may also have influenced the President to support the right of women attorneys to appear before the Supreme Court. She also helped to place two individual women in federal position, one at the Agriculture Department, another at the Patent Office. On the suffrage issue, she ultimately agreed with her husband that women were not yet properly educated enough to be able to vote intelligently – yet did not address the question of whether all men who had the right to do so were superior in their understanding of public issues.
Lucy Hayes did not limit her public role to that of hostess. She sent flowers from the greenhouses to the local Children’s Hospital She helped many former soldiers whose inefficiency might otherwise have had them removed from the White House staff to remain on the job, helped to "encourage" (although whether it was financially is unclear) the daughter of her African-American cook attend Oberlin College. When it came to her own family, however, she followed a scrupulously honest approach, unable, for example, to help get her qualified brother a position as supervising surgeon general in the Marine Hospital Service. By visiting various institutions, she attempted to transfer some sense of support for their missions, although there is no evidence she gave money or had anything but the most superficial association, such as the National Deaf Mute College in Washington, D.C. and the Louisville, Kentucky Asylum for the Blind. After a visit to the African-American Hampton College, the First Lady funded a scholarship for a Native American girl. At the National Soldier’s Home, where disabled soldiers were treated on the grounds of the presidential summer home in Maryland, she often visited those who were housebound. On 26 April 1878, during a trip to Philadelphia, the First Lady maintained an independent schedule of appearance from the President, likely the first such time a president’s wife did so. She toured the Girls’ Normal School, the Northern Home for Friendless Children, Girard College for Boys, the Women’s Medical College, the Educational Home for Orphans, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and the Academy of Fine Arts.
As popular a figure as she would become with certain constituencies, Lucy Hayes was no more beloved with genuine appreciation than in the community of severely poor in Washington, who lived in slum areas. On any occasion, when she was told of a case of a family or individual in dire need, Lucy Hayes would ask for the situation to be carefully investigated, and then directly aid with cash from her own account, or from money she insisted be collected from wealthy Cabinet members. In January of 1880 alone, the Hayes’s dispensed nearly one-thousand dollars, an enormous amount of money at the time. Lucy Hayes believed that her husband’s controversial policy to remove federal troops in the South would put into place a policy affecting African-Americans there that gave them "a better and fairer prospect of happiness and prosperity now than ever." She privately expressed the view that the President had very little choice, having no support from the U.S. Army to continue to keep them there. "She is shrewd and able and up on current matters," remarked one political figure who spoke confidentially with her. Lucy Hayes hid well her considerable anger at fellow Republicans who attacked Hayes’s civil service reforms and the actions of the Potter Committee, which attempted to discredit Hayes’s legitimacy as president due to the disputed election of 1876. She took an especial interest in the efforts of the Native American tribe of Paiutes to have the federal government transfer them from forced detention in Washington territory to a preferred place in Oregon, yet despite the President’s attempts to do so, much of his power was limited by the U.S. Army and western congressmen.
With her great interest in American history living in the White House in Washington, D.C. inspired Lucy Hayes to initiate several history-related efforts. She prompted the President to force the continued work on the Washington Monument that had begun in 1848 but had come to a standstill. She commissioned an Ohio artist to paint portraits of all the Presidents who were not yet represented in the White House collection. She later had the same artist paint a full-length portrait of Martha Washington to hang opposite that of George Washington. While touring the South, Lucy Hayes also made a point of visiting her predecessor Sarah Polk at her home in Nashville, Tennessee and in the White House she warmly welcomed predecessor Julia Tyler to receive with her at a reception, despite the former First Lady’s status during the Civil War as a self-declared Confederate. When she commissioned artist Theodore Davis to design the White House china, Lucy Hayes instructed that the theme should represent natural American flora, fauna and wildlife. The First Lady especially enjoyed taking groups of her many visitors during her tenure around the capital city, guiding tours to historical sites. In New York, she was a central figure at the dedication of the new Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Among her large family of children, birth and by-marriage relatives, friends of all ages, Lucy Hayes was known as a warm, charitable and humorous woman of humility. She had a gentle affection for animals, especially birds, whether they were pigeons, chickens or singing birds and she knew many bird calls. She enjoyed singing in her vibrant contralto and often hosted hymn-singing in the private quarters for gathered friends and family. She played the piano and the guitar, and also used the newly installed telephone in the mansion. On numerous occasions, the First Lady also invited African-American musical groups to perform in the White House, including students of the Colored Industrial School, and famed singer Madame Selika, introduced by Frederick Douglass. There were also some notable events in the White House during her tenure. Rutherford and Lucy Hayes celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on December 30, 1877 by renewing their vows and hosting a reception for friends and family. On the Monday after Easter Sunday, in 1877, she let word out that the children who had customarily played egg-rolling games on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building but were now banned would be welcomed to do so on the white House South Lawn. The First Lady accompanied the President not only on a New England and Southern tour in the summer of 1877. In 1878, she toured the northern Midwest and Plains states of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Michigan. Most unprecedented was her 1880 cross-country tour, visiting cities, towns and rural parts of the West and Pacific States, all the way to San Francisco. While out west, she joined the President in descending silver mine, toured orange groves and the new University of Southern California in Los Angeles, attended a Santa Fe fiesta, witnessed whales playing in the Pacific Ocean, and walked through Yosemite Park. As the party passed through New Mexico and Arizona territories, army guards protected them from potential Apache Native American Indian attacks.
Her final days as First Lady were somewhat embittering. After having successfully avoided being exploited for the purposes of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she was initially wary though flattered by their national fundraising effort to commission a life-size portrait of her for the White House. Her ambivalence was confirmed when she learned that only a small portion of the money they collected on that premise were to actually be used for that purpose, the rest going for a temperance public relations campaign.
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After the White House:
When Hayes retired from the presidency, Lucy Hayes intended to lead a peaceful and utterly private life with her family at their Spiegel Grove estate. While she did attend the centennial celebrations of the presidency in May of 1889 in New York at the request of then-incumbent First Lady Caroline Harrison, she largely remained out of public life. Lucy Hayes did assume presidency of the Methodist Missionary Society, however, and in that capacity began to deliver a series of startlingly harsh speeches at their annual convention, making disparaging remarks about all non-Anglo Saxon races as essentially inferior in the fervency of their Christianity, educational ignorance, or lack of self-control on matters of population control.
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Death:57 years,
25 June 25, 1889 Fremont, Ohio
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Burial: Fremont City Cemetery Re-interred, Spiegel Grove, 1915