| Description |
Yes. I was excited I was going to see the inside of Simpson's beautiful new home. I passed the house often on my way to my sister Fame's and wondered what lay behind the exquisite curtained windows and the elegant from door. Winnie's lesson didn't intrigue, but seeing the inside of the beautiful new home DID. We walked nine blocks on a hot June day and were there-knocking. A few minutes passed. The door opened. 1 anticipated a royal welcome from Mrs. Simpson. She welcomed Winnie, but as I started over the threshold, she firmly suggested that I sit outside on the steps and wait. My excitement. anticipation, and dreams ail came tumbling down. I couldn't believe it! I was NOT going to see the inside after all. But I COULD sit and admire the beautiful roses; perhaps when Winnie was finished. Mrs. Simpson would ask me in. 1 loved the roses-a dazzling red seven-sisters climber on the west side of the path; a delicate pink one on the east. We had ordinary cabbage roses at home. I feasted my eyes and dreamed about the roses for probably half an hour. Then the door opened and Winnie came out. cool and collected But there was NO invitation for me to enter. Sullenly I walked the nine hot blocks home beside Winnie, humiliated, hurt... and wearing very dusty slippers. I DID NOT carry the violin case. I still looked longingly at the house as I went by, but it didn't seem so important. I had other interests, school, first dales, the flu epidemic, singing lead in the operetta, falling into and out of love, activities in college student activities and social affairs. The house was built about 1912 with the distinction of having the first concrete foundation in Mt. Pleasant. When they were pouring the cement, men stood around and said it would never hold up the walls (the concrete was so filled with rocks it actually had added strength). Yet after more than eighty-five years, it had certainly stood the test of time. Owner James Simpson was the station agent in Mt. Pleasant. During the flu epidemic of 1918-1919. he died in the back bedroom, his body taken out the west window and buried the same day. People were so afraid of flu that victims were buried as soon as possible without services of any kind His daughter once told me she was eight years old and no one dared to come inside. But one friend did come into the house and held Dorothy while on the front lawn the lid of the coffin was nailed shut. What an experience for a child! 153 |
