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Show 154 MADELYN CANNON STEWART SILVER occasional trips, both short and long, continued to bring home flowers, chocolates, new books, and presents for the children. He massaged Madelyn's legs which were damaged from phlebitis, read to her while she sewed, and had the children rub his head in the evenings while he read the newspaper before returning to work. Madelyn continued to spend summers at the ranch, with Harold coming on weekends and occasionally on week days. In looking after the children, Madelyn, a regular patron of the Denver library, made sure that her children grew up savor ing the kind of books that had fascinated her as a child. She reg ularly took her children to the library to check out books that would appeal to them. She also saw to it that her children had music lessons, and she took them to recitals, concerts, operas, and plays. Madelyn's continued preoccupation with imagina tion rather than with the real events of "the world" is suggested by the fact that she seldom read the articles on current events in the daily newspaper, but instead read the funnies (comics) and then went on to other tasks. On Sunday afternoons she and Harold drove around Denver with the children, who watched and counted the trains, flew windmills of red and blue celluloid, attached pieces of Kleenex windows, and played car games and sang songs." Madelyn was not a strict disciplinarian. She preferred to let to car Harold deal with the children's transgressions which he did with a firm hand, impartially spanking everyone who was involved. As with other children, Elizabeth, Barnard, and Judith, and later Brian had the usual predicaments: falling, bruising their heads, arms, and legs; falling in ditches (and in the river at the ranch) and getting soaked; straying away and getting lost; and getting their feelings hurt and running to bed to cry. They were taught to work, to be frugal, and to take pride in what they did; to mow the lawn, work in the garden, to care for and mend old clothes; to learn to repair and construct things themselves and dependent on paid labor. Despite a busy life, Madelyn continued to be concerned with the meaning of life. Her mind was restless; she yearned for expe riences that would help her understand. Through the poetry and not to be |
