by Jim Wetton
As Lizzy stared at the stone monument, she thought of her great-grandfather and of Hannah and of why it was that she was actually sitting in the seat in which she was sitting. She only hoped and prayed that these talks with President Wilson would someday bring about the rights of all women to state their views on the nation’s most important topics.
“Mr. President, did I ever tell you that my great-grandfather and great-grandmother were one of the first to not only dine in this great house but had the pleasure of spending a full week in its rooms?”
Wilson turned towards Lizzy and adjusted his spectacles. His interest was sincere and it impressed Lizzy enough to continue.
“In fact, if you believe it or not, based on my great-grandmother’s diary, it was my grandfather who came up with its name.”
“Do tell,” Wilson begged her to continue.
“As it was written, at the time of their visit, by way of President Jefferson’s invitation, the construction team was putting the final coat of paint on the house. It seems that my grandfather, even at such a young age, was so impressed on how much white paint was being used that he turned to Mr. Jefferson and suggested that he simplify the name of the president’s home by just calling it the ‘Big White House.’ President Jefferson obliged my grandfather’s suggestion, only with one alteration; he deleted the word ‘Big.’”
“It sounds as though your family has quite a history with our Founding Fathers, Mrs. McKeever,” Wilson said. “From the other stories you’ve told us, it sounds like your family, especially your great-grandfather, had an intimate connection with many of our great leaders of that time. I would have loved to have known him and heard firsthand his relationship with not only General Washington but also President Washington. Then, to know he shared a friendship with Adams, Jefferson and Madison is astounding.”
“No sir, I must correct you on that one,” Lizzy interrupted. “It was my Great-grandmother Hannah who had the more intimate relationship with our forefathers Adams, Jefferson and Madison. In fact, she was also very close with Abigail Adams, something she wrote quite extensively about in her diary.”
Wilson marveled unapologetically. “I have to tell you, Mrs. McKeever, I could talk with you for hours upon hours about your family and the history they’ve been involved in, but. . . .”
“Yes, I’m sure we’ve taken far too much of your time tonight.” Lizzy sensed Wilson’s meaning.
“No, not at all.” Wilson put his hand up to stop Lizzy from standing. “I’m thoroughly enjoying myself and I know Edith loves it when you all can come for a visit. It’s just, well, I’ve got to make a decision and I need to do it by tomorrow. Both chambers of Congress are meeting and I must address them on a critical topic, one that I’ve toiled with for some time. You see ma’am, believe it or not, I don’t take kindly to going back on my word. If there’s one thing my own parents drilled into me, it was to be honest and stay true to my word. Well, tomorrow I may have to betray that pledge when I go to Congress and ask them something that, in my own opinion, should have been asked in the middle of ’15.”
“Oh, Mr. President, those are the most wonderful words to this mother’s ears,” Lizzy exclaimed.
Immediately embarrassed at her impulsive response, Lizzy brought a napkin to her lips and looked out the window, trying desperately to control her breathing.
Wilson brought his hand up and rubbed his chin as he studied Lizzy.
“Mrs. McKeever, first of all, I think we’ve established ourselves by now, with your relationship with Edith and all, that you can always just call me Woodrow and I hope the same can be said for me to be proper, yet cordial enough to call you Lizzy.”
“Of course, I’m sorry,” Lizzy replied, her face still blushing. “Please forgive my outburst, sir, I mean Mr. . . . uh . . . Woodrow,” Lizzy stuttered awkwardly. “I’ve been waiting for you to do that exact thing ever since the sinking of the Lusitania.”
Wilson looked at Lizzy questioningly.
“My daughter Caroline was killed in the sinking of the Lusitania and from that date on, I swore that I’d pledge my allegiance to whatever president it was that declared war on that demonic regime of Germany and drive them to their graves for what they did to that beautiful young woman.”
The room grew quiet. The small talk that Edith and Nellie were enjoying came to an abrupt halt. Wilson paused and stared out the window to the lights on Washington’s Monument. He slowly rose from his seat and walked over to Lizzy. He reached out his hand and guided her up from her chair. Edith and Nellie looked on in astonishment, wondering what he was about to do. Once standing, Wilson opened up his arms and embraced Lizzy with a full hug. It was a genuine and sincere hug that brought a lump to Lizzy’s throat. When Wilson let go, he backed up a step and looked deep into Lizzy’s eyes, which were filled with tears.
“I am so very sorry for your loss, Lizzy, so very sorry.”
He then reached for her hands to help guide her back to her seat.
Nellie looked at Edith with raised eyebrows and a smile. Edith returned her friend’s gesture with a smile.
“It’s time for them to pay, Lizzy, and pay they will, I promise.”
Lizzy tried to hold in her emotions but couldn’t. Nellie walked over and held her mother as she began to cry. Edith walked over to her husband and put a hand upon his cheek, then reached up and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, Woody; you’re a good man.”
* * * *
WAR’S DECLARED
ON APRIL 2ND, 1917, PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON ASKED CONGRESS TO DECLARE A STATE OF WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT. HE DECLARED THAT THE TIME OF OUR PATIENCE HAS LONG DRAWN TO A CLOSE.
HE STATED THAT NOT ONLY DID WE FEEL THE WRATH OF GERMANY AT THE SINKING OF AN INNOCENT SHIP FILLED WITH CIVILIANS, BUT ALSO AN ACT OF WAR WAS CONDUCTED WHEN OUR AGENCIES INTERCEPTED A WIRE FROM GERMANY TO MEXICO TEMPTING MEXICO TO DECLARE WAR ON THE UNITED STATES IN LIEU OF RETURNING PRE-1846 LAND BACK TO MEXICO.
IN HIS LAST STATEMENT, WILSON PAUSED AND THEN FORCEFULLY PROCLAIMED:
“I WOULD BE THE FIRST TO TELL YOU THAT I NEVER WANTED WAR. NO PRESIDENT WANTS TO HAVE THE DEATHS OF OUR FINE BRAVE BOYS ON HIS WATCH, BUT WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT STAND BY ANY LONGER. WE MUST ACT AND WE MUST ACT NOW!”
Teddy threw the paper in the air and let out a scream that caused Nellie to drop the skillet she was about to place on the stove.
“Teddy!” Nellie yelled out.
“Whoopee! Now that’s the way to go, Woody!” Teddy’s voice echoed throughout the house. “Time for this fellow to get his bags packed. I’ve been waiting for this announcement for months and now it’s official, Adeline; now it’s official.”
Adeline, who’d been sitting next to Teddy before he leapt off the couch, didn’t say a word. She just stared straight ahead at the wall in front of her.
Nellie stopped in her tracks and looked down at the skillet on the floor. “Don’t even think about it, young man. Don’t you even think about it!”
“She’s right, you know,” Lizzy said as she entered the room and looked at Nellie on her hands and knees on the kitchen floor.
“Cooking me some breakfast this morning, daughter?” Lizzy said, trying to ease the tension. “Shouldn’t you be over on Dupont Circle fixing your husband breakfast? Not that I don’t love it; just surprised, that’s all.
“Well, there’s a reason, plus Teddy wanted to see Adeline and . . . ,” Nellie’s voice cracked. “Momma, we’ve got to talk.”
Lizzy frowned at the concerned look on Nellie’s face. She bent over and picked up the skillet then helped Nellie up.
“Let’s go outside and leave these two love birds alone, shall we?”
“We’ll be right outside, you two,” Lizzy announced. “Adeline, please make sure my grandson doesn’t leave for Europe before saying goodbye. Will you do that for me, dear?”
Adeline’s expression was as pale as the color of her skin.
“I’m goin
g, Nana! I’m telling you all right this minute. I’m going!”
“Hold your horses there, boy. Give your grandmother a minute before you start packing, OK?” Lizzy mumbled as she followed Nellie out the door.
The door closed behind them as Lizzy joined Nellie at the table. They had grabbed their coats before coming outside as an early spring storm had left a layer of snow on the porch deck. Lizzy tucked her collar under her chin, disregarded the group of guineas nesting underneath the large oak and turned towards her daughter.
“What is it, dear?”
Nellie couldn’t control herself any longer. “I am so afraid for Teddy, Momma! He’s half packed and out the door and has no idea what it is he’s going to be running into. Hardest thing is that Henry isn’t discouraging him. He says, ‘It’s a man’s destiny to test himself at times of war.’”
Lizzy reached for Nellie’s hand and squeezed it. “Momma, he’s only eighteen years old, for Christ’s sake and my only boy, Momma, my only boy.”
Lizzy pulled her towards her and let her break down. She placed her hand behind Nellie’s neck and cuddled her as if she was still a young child.
“What am I going to do, Momma? How will I ever convince him not to go, especially when his father is encouraging it?”
Lizzy looked up into the tree and said a quick prayer. She remembered how much her father tried to convince her brothers not to go fight. All of his efforts were futile; in fact, they actually drove her brothers farther away from her father. The last thing she wanted was to see her grandson go off to war, but in reality, that would probably happen one way or another and she knew it.
“You can’t, dear, you just can’t.” Lizzy could feel Nellie’s convulsions of sobbing even through the thick wool coat. “You tell him to be safe; you pray for him and you wait until he comes home.”
Lizzy pulled back so she could face her daughter straight on. Her daughter might be forty-three and a grown woman with a growing family, but on this morning, she was her little baby girl who needed her mother.
“Hey, would you like to go for a walk with me? I just love walking in this kind of weather. How about it?”
Nellie sniffed in and shook her head in agreement.
“I’m sure those two love doves in the living room won’t get into too much mischief by the time we get back.” Lizzy peeked in through the porch window then added, “Then again, I wouldn’t be so sure.”
They both laughed as they went back inside.
Lizzy grabbed her cane, something she wasn’t proud of but it kept her stable, especially on long walks. Nellie gave Teddy some last-minute instructions in case the rest of the family came over. She smiled at Teddy’s lack of concentration as he sat ever so close to Adeline.
“He might just decide to stay home and marry that girl, Momma, which would make this mother mighty happy.”
Closing the front door behind them, Lizzy navigated slowly down the two steps of the front porch and down to the sidewalk. Once at the street, they turned towards the D.C. Mall and to Lizzy’s favorite trail. As they passed house after house, Lizzy couldn’t help but notice how each house seemed so similar. Two stories, large front porch, another back porch on the side yard with an extended roof coming off the house. Lizzy’s house was one of the only single-story homes on the block, but it had one of the biggest front windows compared to her neighbors and the only large oak tree in the neighborhood.
As they crossed over Constitution Avenue, Nellie grabbed for Lizzy’s sleeve and pulled her back, just before a Chevrolet convertible turned the corner and flew by. “Oh, how I miss the horse and buggy,” Lizzy laughed as she started out again.
Once on the trail, one of which Lizzy could walk in her sleep, they turned east and towards the Capitol. Lizzy had never walked the entire trail, though she’d always dreamed of it. It would have taken her past the White House, which was directly opposite the Washington Monument, then it would go past the Smithsonian Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, Union Station and up to the Capitol. One could cross down and back, returning on the south side of the mall if they wished. Lizzy usually walked bits and pieces of the trail, enjoying everything a little at a time. Her favorite was the landscaping and the botanical gardens that were planted throughout the two-mile trail. One of her favorite trees, the American elm, was found everywhere throughout the mall, especially towards the center.
As Lizzy and Nellie strolled down the trail, they could see the Capitol in the far distance and the Washington Monument not too far ahead. Lizzy stopped abruptly and grabbed onto Nellie’s coat sleeve.
“What is it, Momma?” Nellie’s voice raised with fear.
“We can’t go this way; I plumb forgot what time of year it is. We must go the other way and towards the Tidal Basin; oh dear, what’s come over me? I should have known better.”
“Momma, it’s all right, don’t beat yourself up like that.” Nellie helped Lizzy turn around as the two crossed over 17th Street and began to walk around the Basin. They stopped mid-stream and sat on a bench under one of hundreds of blooming cherry trees.
“See why we had to come this way?” Lizzy smiled. “Isn’t it just grand, Nellie? Been here since 1912 and if you don’t come around this time of year, you’ll miss it. Trust me; I’ve made that mistake several times.” Lizzy breathed in deep and smiled. “Oh, isn’t it beautiful?”
There were hundreds of cherry trees which created a white blossom tunnel overlooking the trail. Today’s delight was enhanced by the sprinkling of snow on the ground, so they were enveloped in a landscaped white sheet of beauty.
“I don’t know how you ever handled your two brothers leaving home and going off to fight. The mere fact that that they were going off to war wasn’t enough; they were going off against each other. How horrible that must have been.”
Lizzy lowered her head in reflection and just nodded vacantly.
“I don’t know how I’m going to deal with the fact that I know Teddy is going to want to go. I could stop him, but he’d go against my will and I’d lose him all the same.”
Lizzy sniffed in an acknowledgment as she nodded again.
“Like you said, Momma, just gonna have to leave it to God and pray for his return.”
Again, Lizzy nodded, her eyes now up and looking at the plethora of white blossoms around her.
“Did I tell you that Bonnie’s been seeing a boy?”
Lizzy snickered and shook her head.
“His name is Curtis Hamilton. Bonnie tells me that he’s a flyer; I mean he actually flies planes. Can you believe it, our Bonnie?”
“And my little Nancy Lee, well she has eyes on Billy Horton; you know, the boy who delivers our mail. Yes, she’s smitten on him, just don’t know where that’ll go, but golly.”
Lizzy arched her head back and looked up at the grey sky through the branches of the cherry trees. “It’s amazing how fast a family grows up, Nellie. Only thing I can say to you is enjoy it and thank God for it, because before too long, you’ll be talking to some other old lady about what your grandchildren are doing and seeing.”
“Oh, Momma, don’t talk like that; you make it sound as if you’ll be dead soon.”
Lizzy turned her gaze upon Nellie and tilted her head, her one eyebrow raised.
“Heard back from the women’s leadership on what we can plan on next.” Nellie chose to change the subject before it got too emotional for her. “Unfortunately, they weren’t too optimistic. Said that due to the declaration of war, all eyes, focus and emotions will be on that and not on our cause. They even suggested we suspend all of our efforts until this war is over. What do you think?”
Lizzy sighed and looked back up to the cherry blossoms above her. “Nellie, I’m seventy-three years old. I don’t know how many more years I have left, so if it’s the war we have to wait on, well, then if it’s God’s will that I’m still around, we’ll just go after it then, but I can’t fret about it anymore.”
Nellie could see the disappointment in her
mother’s eyes and squeezed her hand. “I know you promised Great-great-grandma Hannah and I know how important that is for you.”
“It’s in God’s hands, child,” Lizzy said with a half-smile. “Hannah’s up there with God, so I’m sure they have it all under control.”
Nellie laughed at Lizzy’s analogy. “Momma, you just amaze me.”
“See, I’m good for something, right?”
“Oh, come on now, Momma,” Nellie interjected. “You’ve got to know what you mean to this family.”
Nellie studied Lizzy’s eyes, which had turned sad.
“Momma, please, don’t ever forget for a minute how much you mean to all of us, to my children, to Adeline, to me.”
“I’ll never have anything to leave you with, Nellie,” Lizzy said almost in a whisper. “My whole life will be wrapped up as one woman who has nothing to give but the memories of who she was. Sounds morbid, doesn’t it?”
“Stop it, Momma,” Nellie choked out. “I love you, Momma, and you have given me so much to live for; even today, you’ve given me a lesson on how to watch my son go off to war and trust that he’ll return. Momma, that’s you, you did that for me. So, don’t go off and say you’ll never leave me with anything. I’ll always have you here in my heart. That’s what’s important.”
“I have no money, Nellie, no inheritance to give you or the children.”
“Hell with money, Momma; we have you, your teachings, your lessons, your example and we’ll have my daughters who will watch you walk up to that ballot box someday soon and drop in your vote, just the way you promised Great-great-grandmother Hannah. OK?”
“OK, you win. But we’d better start calling your great-great-grandmother Hannah just plain Hannah. Her title’s getting a bit long, if you know what I mean.”
“That sounds great, Momma,” Nellie laughed.