Hoity-toity!
So many charities write to me lately. It is sensible to make donations now, if you are ever going to, because you can take it off your income tax. It's tough to decide which worthy institutions to support. The Salvation Army is a no-brainer. So are the Delaware Symphony and the Delaware Art Museum. WRTI, which I listen to all the time. Second Harvest. Doctors without Borders. All of these can be sure of a check.
Then there are those which set off alarms. Boys'Town? I don't think they need me. Likewise the American Red Cross.
Today I got a solicitation which caused me no hesitation at all. Last Summer I visited the Edna St Vincent Millay Society, which has taken over and is preserving the home of, guess who? Not to keep you in suspense, it is Edna St Vincent Millay, she of the candle that burns at both ends and other soppy poetry. As a general rule, the poetry of authors who use three names is seldom first-rate. But I digress.
We took the tour, which certainly revealed some insight into the lady. Edna was an interesting woman, a beauty who married a rich man but did not let this stand in the way of taking many lovers. If the husband could live with this, it didn't bother me. She wanted things her own way, and more or less got them. No-one could disturb the order of the books in her study, for instance.
The most interesting thing I took away from the tour, however, was that she instructed the servants not to speak to her (or her husband) without being spoken to first. I wonder whether they had to tug their forelocks when responding to her, or whether a dignified bow would do?
Somehow I don't quite feel like donating to the upkeep of her home. I'll stick to the Salvation Army.
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