Maud Wood Park Papers (Woman's Rights Collection). Personal and Biographical. "Journal for the year 1880.". WRC-Pa, folder Pa-1. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

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something of a practical mechanic & had gained their confidence to such an extent that Mr Stone? had taken him to Adjectives formed from Proper Nouns A friend are called Proper Adjectives a business As Proper Nouns are always written man of with capitals, so Adjectives derived some wealth from them are also written with capitals. He also was impressed with the excellence of the plans & it was agreed that he & Mr Stone should furnish money to get a patent & for the young man to live on while he was making his model. May couldn't understand how it was that her father should have placed so much confidence in an entire stranger, the truth was that her father who was wary of new things as a rule had an instinctive belief that this was the something which was to change his luck a belief strengthened by the enthusiasm of his bookkeeper. His friend was a man who had had to do with inventors & inventions before & had both made & lost money by them & he [reasoned?] as did Mr Stone that it couldn't be very much lost & might be a great deal gained. Having something to hope for & look forward to had done Mr Stone a great deal of good & he was brighter that evening than May had seen him for a long while. But she had a great dread lest he should be disappointed after all that took away from her pleasure. Her mother activated by a desire not to let herself think of

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what she feared was too good to be can would rather unpleasantly at the castles in the air Mr Stone was [long?] [hungrily?] building. The children were anxious to know what the inventor looked like & Mr. Stone told them they would have an excellent chance to see as he was to stay with them for a time & build his model in the stable. And the next day he did come. May who happened to open the door was impressed by his boyish My name is Maud M. Wood, appearance & general and I am nine years of age. eccentricity This impression was share by the whole family. the young man whose name was Richardson Yours truly, was [convinced?] tion that there were millions in his invention Maud M. Wood & that/was very indignant at the slightest doubt of it but aside from this he was obliging & pleasant & the growth of the model became one of the chief sources of interest & conversation to the Stone's May had been in the habit of spending Wednesday afternoons with Mrs Merriam and the fact that she was to be one of her friends guests that evening did not prevent her from going the following Mrs Merriam Wednesday. They usually read aloud sometimes in a little [course?] they had planned and sometimes a new story or poem or essay that had pleased Mrs Merriam. She was an indefatigable reader bookworm herself & enjoyed making other people like the good parts of a book. May was a good pupil & some of her pleasantest hours were spent listening to her friends delightful reading. Everything

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for about the house was pretty & attractive Mrs Merriams bedroom

was perfection May thought exquisitely neat & dainty from with a the Wednesday Oct 25 1880 dressing table draped in flowered silk with pretty [?] & silver backed brushes & bottles to the beautifully worked bed linens. The Merriam's were not rich but he had an excellent salary & there were no children to spend it on. Mrs Merriam [?] was a good manager could make a little go a long way & she had a passion for completeness. She liked everything about her well-finished & perfect & in consequence her house though small was the best regulated in [Halberton?] (there was nothing in it which did not really belong to a bedroom & the knick-knacks were few for Mrs Merriam thought very many small things out of place in a sleeping-room) The parlor had first of all many books & a few good pictures, there was a little nook projection curtained off at one end, with cushioned fender running along beside the square window, the whole room had the appearance of being cozy without looking being crowded which few parlors possess. The house was a very haven of rest for May & when she first knew Mrs Merriam she envied her the possession of it very heartily. But after a while she found that all these things were merely the outside & that her friend occupied busied herself with them because she wished to be busy to be doing something anything rather than thinking of herself. Mrs Merriam was a handsome woman with dark eyes &

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hair almost white though she was not barely fortymany years past She had been very beautiful as a girl & a little vain & very ambitious she was the daughter of poor people her education

A Water-Lily

Oh star on the breast of the river, Oh marvel of bloom and grace, Did you fall straight down from heaven Out of the sweetest place?

You are white as the thoughts of an angel; Your heart is steeped in the sun; Did you grow in the golden city, My pure and radient one.

Nay, nay I fell not out of heaven; Non gave me my saintly white, It slowly grew from the blackness Down in the dreamy night.

From the ooze of the silent river I won my glory and grace, While souls fall not O my poet; They rise to the sweetest place.

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self-acquired but her culture was instinctive. She was naturally well bred & the manners of a better higher class came to her with Wednesday Oct. 25 1880. but little effort on her part. Her husband was 16 years her senior. He held a position of considerable responsibility, a sole agent for a I have decided to keep a journal, I went large to school this morning as ususual we were company dismissed at eleven oclock because the boiler He had fallen burst, and we were dismissed at 5 minutes past in love this afternoon. W M M W M M Wood Maud Wood with her pretty face when she was twenty & she having for him a feeling Tuesday Oct 25 1880. of liking & respect married him. He was a shrewd business [his business?] man believed in living well & had been something of a sporting man before his marriage. Of his wife's intellectual powers he did not think at all he was proud of her beauty proud of their home but he never [wanted?] himself never supposed her education beyond a certain point was something that was superfluous that didn't pay. She on the contrary had unusual qualities of mind & with plenty of leisure to cultivate them she outgrew her husband. Then the unhappiness of her life began. She became familiar with the best thought of the best minds she had high ideals of life & love & her husband was a man who had no ideals at all. She came almost to detest the physical beauty which was what he liked about her & longed inexpressibly as only an educated woman can long for a chance to gain a love

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