Chapter 3
Grace Mainwaring to Sally Henry October 27, 1936
… As for myself, there are things that I have to tell you that are not easy to put on paper. The long and short of it is that there was a crisis in my marriage in the past month and neither Van nor I handled it very well. It would be too painful for me to go into details here. Let's just say that there were misunderstandings and foolish behavior on both sides. Both of us were dishonest at times. Both of us let things get out of hand to the point where I believed that I hated Van and he believed that our marriage was over. I was wrong and only the future will tell if Van was too. . .
Part of me admires Van for being honorable enough to go through with his commitment to the International Brigades. Part of me can't believe that he could be so foolish as to take such a terrible risk. He could be maimed or killed. I am sorry to bring up what I know must be a painful subject for you, but we both spent most of the Great War living in fear for our brothers at the front. I'm not looking forward to doing the same thing for Van. . .
In happier news, Juanita's therapy and Maisie's company continue to benefit Mother. Mother grumbles that both of them are trying to subject her to inhuman torture or turn her into a hopeless invalid depending on whether they want her to do something difficult to strengthen her coordination or whether she wants to do more than she is ready to do yet. However, I think she understands that they are only trying to do what is best for her.
Juanita and Maisie have also been good for each other. With Maisie around, Juanita doesn't have to handle Mother all by herself. Maisie has learned a lot from Juanita about what a woman can accomplish with a warm heart, a sharp mind, and an iron determination. I think she has a lot to do with Maisie's newfound ambition to become a doctor.
Maisie can be a bit impulsive and irreverent at times, but hours spent in Juanita's company are teaching her, however slowly, to temper those qualities with patience. She may very well make a fine doctor someday. Mother approves of the idea. Just last night she told me, "a young girl should have ambitions for her future. I certainly don't want Maisie to think that she has to spend the best part of her youth as my caretaker."
The new book, A Woman's Secret by Lucinda Fairchild is turning out to be a modest success. The whole town was surprised at the revelation that the author is actually Toppy writing under a pseudonym. I have read it and it's pretty good. It's a series of interconnected sketches about a group of women in a small town not unlike New Bedford. Toppy has a real talent for low key realism.
Hopefully this will encourage New Bedford to see her as something more than the scandalous divorcee who runs a dress shop. I have to admire Max for being so generous in his praise of Toppy's talent and in his congratulations to her on her achievement. Max has worked so hard and for such a long time to establish himself as a writer with only a couple of published articles and a couple of mystery shows on CRNB to show for it. It can't be easy to see Toppy reap some of the success he's dreamed of for years in less than seven months since she began to write her first novel.
Archie Attenborough is also an admirer of Toppy's writing. He was very enthusiastic on the subject when he asked me to give her his congratulations. It's ridiculous the distance they keep from each other. All anyone has to do to know their real feelings is to hear the warmth with which each talks about the other. I know they both decided that they needed some time to find their feet after Toppy's divorce and the death of Archie's mother. However, it's been months.
Toppy has done a spectacular job of making a new life for herself. Archie, in his own eccentric way, seems to have gotten the hang of shifting for himself for the first time in his life. I suppose the house he lived in with his mother does have too many memories and not everyone has what it takes to live alone in a place that big. I don't know how that lawyer, Mr. Waters, that he rents it out to manages.
Archie seems to be happy enough in the back room of his pharmacy. I know I wouldn't be, but there's no accounting for bachelors. Anyway, I told Archie that he should give Toppy his congratulations himself. I didn't think she'd mind if he invited her to dinner to celebrate her success. Speaking of living arrangements, I am back in the room I was renting from Toppy before Van came to New Bedford and turned everything upside down. …
From the Memoirs of Grace Bailey -
I wasn't the only one in New Bedford hiding a secret. Rebecca Graham, the enthusiastic redheaded teen Toppy employed as an assistant at the dress shop, had one of her own. Her mother was mentally disturbed to the point that she refused to even leave her room if it wasn't absolutely necessary for personal hygiene. When Rebecca revealed her secret to me, she told me that it was only fair for her to do so since she knew the truth about Van. She had accidentally overheard me talking about it to Toppy.
I was surprised to find that Rebecca's life wasn't as carefree as she made it look at first glance with her constant chatter about movies and her ambition to be an actress when she grew up. I could see a little why she reminded Toppy of me before I started to find my own way in life. I should have been more patient with her when she told me how romantic she thought it was that my husband was a charming rogue inspired by love to atone for his misdeeds by going off to war.
Instead, I was pretty short, telling her that Van could be killed. Waiting for someone you love to come back from a bloodbath like the one taking place in Spain while knowing that the worst could happen at any time is not glamorous. Toppy was right to reproach me. She pointed out that Rebecca couldn't know the truth of what I had just told her. She was only fifteen. She hadn't even been born yet when Toppy and I were living through the Great War.
Vanaver Mainwaring to Grace Mainwaring October 30, 1936
… Will sends his thanks for the letter and for visiting his parents. He wonders if you could keep an eye on them while he's away. His brother and sister stay in touch with them, but neither lives in New Bedford. Living on the outskirts of town, they haven't many neighbors. I have taken Will under my wing as much as I can and have gotten some help in that regard from a fellow American, Harry Schmitz. Harry is a tall, easygoing Negro from West Virginia who was a miner the same as Will. He lost his job three years ago, wandered up to Canada looking for work, and became a Communist during the On to Ottawa Trek.
…Many of our group were reluctant to warm up to me. They couldn't understand why a wealthy businessman would join impoverished workingmen like themselves in the International Brigades. I told them about the uglier sights of my trip to Germany three years ago. I also made clear my disgust with the sympathy for Fascism harbored by most of the rich and powerful in both Canada and America.
That two authentic proletarians like Will and Harry vouched for me helped. So did your photograph, at least with Mackie Cohen, a tough egg from the slums of Toronto. When he saw me looking at it, he figured that to leave a knockout like you behind I must be the world's most dedicated antifascist. That or a complete lunatic.
May Bailey to Jessie Buchanan October 30, 1936
… Dr Barlow will talk to Mrs. Barlow about letting Maisie help her in her work with the New Bedford Hospital Auxiliary. He admitted to Grace when she asked him for that favor that he was convinced to grant it by the fact that Maisie has been a member of the New Bedford High School chapter of the Junior Red Cross since last year.
You remember how surprised and impressed she was when she joined to learn that nineteen years earlier Grace had been one of the organization's founders. Grace admitted that she was part of the delegation of students that Sally Brewster led to ask Principal Miller's permission for the project. However, she insisted that it was Sally Brewster who came up with the idea and did most of the work. That may be so, but I seem to remember Grace and Sally having several excited discussions on the matter long before anyone else was involved. …
From the Journals of Honey Sutton November 2, 1936
Today Toppy came with me on my appointment to do Mrs. Graham's hair at her home. Grace approved of what we had in mind but begged off coming with us on the grounds that Mr. Graham might not appreciate her presence. Things have been rocky between the two of them ever since he denied the Silverdome Mining Company a loan for the equipment it needed to modernize its operations to meet new competition. Grace and Mother Bailey [May Bailey. This is an old-fashioned way of referring to one's mother-in-law. Ed.] had to find the money by other means. Grace, not to mention the rest of the family, had hoped for better from the manager of the New Bedford branch of the Royal Dominion Bank
. . . At first, Mr. Graham resisted our suggestion that he should consult Toppy's therapist about his wife's mental health. I pointed out that he owed it to his daughter to do whatever he could for his wife. Toppy chimed in that seeing her mother become more and more closed in on herself was hurting her deeply. It isn't natural for the poor child to have to spend most of her time when she isn't at school or at work with her mother to keep her from being alone. She should be doing things with friends and having new experiences like any other girl her age.
Mr. Graham admitted that this was true. However, he had consulted doctors before and none of them had done any good. Toppy conceded that maybe her therapist wouldn't be able to help either, but it couldn't hurt to at least find out what he had to say. Mr. Graham promised, for Rebecca's sake, to make an appointment as soon as possible. …
Grace Mainwaring to Vanaver Mainwaring November 4, 1936
… Please, tell Will that I will be happy to look in on his parents in his absence. It's easy enough for Maisie and I to stop by on our visits to Roolie. You remember Roolie, the old Gypsy woman I took you to see when we were courting. Her son is still trying to persuade her to move to Pinebury and live with him instead of on her own. However, she is almost as stubborn as my mother. At least the spectacles Dr. Barlow arranged for her to get have prevented any further deterioration of her vision and she is otherwise as healthy as a horse.
… Your enlistment in the International Brigades has sent shockwaves through New Bedford. Last Wednesday, I was almost kicked out of the Daughters of the Empire because of it. Dot Grady was on her high horse about you associating with Communists. I defended you, but it was really Mother who saved the day. She told everyone that you and your fellow volunteers, Communist or not, are willing to risk your lives to defend people you don't even know from slaughter and enslavement at the hands of traitors and mass murderers and she admires you for it.
You should have seen Mrs. Grady's face turn purple when Mother told her that she couldn't remember the last time she or her husband so much as went out of their way for anyone but themselves. Mother also made much more than it deserved of my volunteer work with the I.O.D.E. and of one or two good turns I've done for members in the past. I've never heard her say so many nice things about me at one time before in my life. Anyway, I remain a member in good standing of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, New Bedford Chapter.
Next Post: Van's new friends and Grace's family