Edie by Jean Stein Read Free Book Online Page A

followed by lunch, then a little walk around the garden, changing to a long dress in the afternoon, pouring tea at five even if she was by herself. And no day varied from the day before or from the day after. She did exquisite needlework and embroidery; she read a lot of history and kept charts of European royalty in big notebooks.
    My grandparents had four children. My mother, Alice Delano de Forest, was lie youngest, born in 1908 when her father was fifty-three. There were two older brothers and an older sister. In 1913 the eldest son died suddenly of a brain tumor just before he was thirteen years old. My grandmother went into mourning and put away the wardrobe she had bought each year on trips abroad. My mother was only five at the time, but the message of terror and suffering must have gotten through to her. She remained closest to her other brother, Uncle Charlie, who she felt was the most important person in her life, and she worshiped her father—she called him Fuzzy because of his beard.
    My mother was the darling of her father—there was a strong bond between them. She was very much a tomboy. And her relationship with him was very close—lots of hugging and sitting in his lap. There was definitely competition between my mother and grandmother for Grandfather de Forest.
    I’ve seen pictures of my mother taken that summer of 1928 at Tilney when she and my father met again. She wore tweed skirts, wool sweaters, and brogues—shoes that look as if she was about to set off on a round of golf. She has a shy, happy look in those pictures—they show her warm nature. Although I have never known whether my father shared his mental horrors with her, I’m sure he confided in her and that he trusted her utterly. I imagine that she may have felt that only she understood him, and that her faith would restore him.

    The New York Times
, Thursday, May 9, 1929
    Social News
    OLD FAMILIES SEE MISS DE FOREST WED
    Younger Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. de Forest Marries Francis M. Sedgwick
    CEREMONY IN GRACE CHURCH
    Rev. Dr. Peabody Officiates—Bridal Party Passes Through a Lane of White and Green
    There was a representative gathering of old New York families yesterday afternoon in Grace Church, Broadway and Tenth Street, for the marriage of Miss Alice de Forest, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. de Forest of this city and Nethermuir, Cold Spring Harbor, L.I., to Francis Minturn Sedgwick, son of Henry Dwight Sedgwick, author, and the late Mrs. Sedgwick, who was a member of the Minturn family of this city. . . .
    The Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody, headmaster of Groton School, where the bridegroom prepared for college, performed the ceremony. He was assisted by the Rev. Dr. W. Russell Bowie, rector of Grace Church. There was a full choral service, the vested choir singing “Ancient of Days” as it made its way from the vestry room to the choir stalls. As the bride entered the church escorted by her father, the choir sang the Lohengrin wedding march. . . .
    . . . At the chancel steps she was joined by the bridegroom and his brother, Robert Minturn Sedgwick, the best man. . . . She wore a princess costume of ivory colored satin, the skirt shorter in front and ending in a long train in the back. She wore two veils, one of old family lace over another of tulle edged with godet ruffles of tulle. The veils extended to the end of the long train and were arranged with a cap of lace caught across the back of the head with a narrow bandeau of tiny orange blossoms. Her bouquet was of lilies of the valley.
    The costumes of the bridesmaids were of primrose yellow chiffon, that of the matron of honor being of a darker shade of yellow. All the attendants wore large picture hats of yellow straw trimmed with apple green moiré ribbon. Their bouquets were of pink and yellow Spring flowers and blue iris.
    . . . Owing to the recent illness of the bride’s mother, there was no reception.
    . . . Mr. Sedgwick and his bride after their wedding