Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard (37 page)

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Authors: Roger Austen

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #General, #Literary Criticism, #Gay & Lesbian, #test

BOOK: Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard
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Page 130
age to look back and rewrite or even reread. "I'm not to look at it . . .  until my next summer vacation," he told Russell Sullivan, "and then I'll see if it be fish, flesh or fowl."
22
The best literary news of these years was that Scribner's was issuing a new edition of
South-Sea Idyls.
23
It is not clear who arranged the republication. It may have been Edward L. Burlingame, editor of
Scribner's Magazine,
or Howells, who wrote the laudatory preface. At any rate, the book appeared in the fall of 1892 and received generally good reviews, "most of them extremely flattering." Stoddard noted that "Herman Melville, Kinglake (in his
Eothan)
and Pierre Loti . . . have been my despair. To all of these have I been compared and in some cases the palm has been given to me" (D 6 Oct. 1892).
The Dial,
for instance. ranked Stoddard with Stevenson, Loti, and Melville, calling
South-Sea Idyls
a "classic'': "In their happy combination of humor and poetic feeling, in their graceful style, and in their simple human sympathy, the sketches are so satisfactory that we cannot imagine the thing being better done."
24
The
Catholic World
was "at a loss to recall an English equivalent" for Stoddard's "charm of diction, power of picturesque suggestion, and other purely literary qualities." The reviewer added that a "rigid censor" might find Stoddard "too hospitable . . . of some of the lights and shades"referring here, perhaps, to his pagan sensuality and chumminess with the savagesbut he concluded that "the whole spirit of the book is as pure as it is poetic."
25
Stoddard also received batches of congratulatory letters from the literati. From Harvard, Charles Eliot Norton wrote that the idyls had "kept me up to a late hour night before last, and wrapt me from the harsh chill of our rough winter into the Elysium of the soft airs of summer seas." Norton believed that the book could have been written only by an American, for it shows "the fineness of American nerves, the characteristic American conflict between temperament and consciencethe shiness
[sic]
of the betrayal of emotion displaying itself by the vail
[sic]
of pretended cynicism."
26
Rudyard Kipling, living in Vermont, told Stoddard that reading
South-Sea Idyls
had given him "as bad an attack of 'go-fever' as I've had for a long time past. . . . Your book is highly improper, and I doubt not immoral . . . it is sinful beyond telling that a man should wear no clothes."
27
In terms of literary success, then, these early years at the Catholic University were not unrewarding. Stoddard was written up in the newspapers; Robert Buchanan dedicated a volume of poetry to him; and a
 
Page 131
group of Catholic ladies in Salem, Massachusetts constituted themselves as the "Charles Warren Stoddard Reading Circle." But alone in his room at Caldwell Hall he found that praise was no substitute for close companionship, and he often felt unbearably lonely.
Then one fall Saturday afternoon in 1892, while he was reading the playbills downtown, he heard someone say, "How do you do, Mr. Stoddard?" (D 15 Oct. 1892). He turned around and recognized a dark-haired youth who had used to come out to the university to visit Frank Blodgett. When together, they had struck Stoddard as "Beauty and the Beast." The youth's name was Kenneth O'Connor, and he came from a "commonplace" Irish family on 9th Street. Kenneth walked Stoddard to the streetcar, and back at Caldwell Hall that night he prayed, ''O, if only such a Kid were to fall to my lot!"
 
Page 132
10
Falling in love with Kenneth O'Connor and moving with him into a house on M Street were the most important events in Stoddard's life during the mid-1890s. The first obviously led to the second, although Stoddard had been growing tired of Caldwell Hall in any case. Kenneth did visit him on campus during the day, but this was no more satisfactory than the alternative of Stoddard's going to the O'Connor house at 815 9th Street, where he occasionally slept with Kenneth overnight. Stoddard was crazy with love, and he wanted his new Kid always within arm's reach.
I
Aged fifteen in 1895, Kenneth O'Connor weighed one hundred and fifty pounds and stood (taller than Stoddard) at five feet, six-and-a-half inches. Abandoned some years before by her husband, Mrs. O'Connor had raised her six childrenfour others had diedas best she could. Kenneth, the youngest, complained of being "picked on" at home, but in many ways he seemed able to hold his own. In fact, having dropped out of school, he was turning into something of a street-corner
 
Page 133
"tough"Stoddard preferred the term "waif"who smoked cigarettes, drank whiskey, and "knew the score." While he sometimes dated girls, he also had sex with other boys. (During the fall of 1895, his own "Kid'' was an Italian youth named Tony.) Kenneth loved show business. and he idolized a brother who performed with his trick dog in the Mabel Page theatrical troupe. In the eyes of other people, certainly the members of his own family, he did not seem very remarkable. But to Stoddard the Kid was the most wonderful creature on earth. "He loves me," Stoddard told Father Hudson.
1
Kenneth had many reasons to be fond of this kindly old man who was always giving him nice things. One Saturday during October 1895, Stoddard bought him "a pair of shoes; 4 pairs of stockings, 2 pairs of drawers, 2 undershirts, 1 white shirt, 6 collars, 4 pairs of cuffs, a suit of clothescoat, vest & pants, a cravat and a hat" (D 13 Oct. 1895). On other occasions Stoddard would give him money for theater tickets or carfare, baskets of fruit, cigarettes, or "Kiss Me" chewing gum. They were fond of oyster dinners, and "Dad" always paid the bill. Stoddard's reward was that he felt needed by this "tender-hearted, sympathetic, loyal" young man. He was most supremely happy when they slept in each others' arms at night, so happy sometimes that he preferred to lie awake. Once in the middle of the night Kenneth asked him, "Are you happy now?" Stoddard assured him that he was (D 2 Nov. 1895).
At first glance, it might seem surprising that Stoddard's friends on campus and in town did not disapprove of this relationship. On the contrary, nearly everyone appeared to regard Stoddard's interest in the youth as altogether admirable. How can this be explained? First of all, Stoddard was never secretive about his fondness for Kenneth. As his love grew, so did his chattering about the Kid to anyone who was willing to listen. His students and colleagues grew weary enough of hearing about Kenneth that some of them began "chaffing" and teasing Stoddard about his marvelous youth, just for the fun of watching him explode. (On this subject, as on many others, Stoddard had no sense of humor.) His friends may have reasoned that any relationship so widely broadcast was perfectly innocuous. But Stoddard also practiced a bit of deviousness. Especially after he planned to live with the Kid, he sought to allay any suspicion by casting himself as a savior rather than a seducer. Thus he stressed the "inhumane" treatment Ken had been receiving at home. Before long he was able to convince himself and perhaps others that the Kid's home life had been something out of
 
Page 134
Dickens. To Father Hudson, Stoddard charged that the O'Connors were cruel people. "I pittied
[sic]
him and championed his cause in defiance of his whole family. . . . I hope to save him from the dismal fate that threatened him."
2
To Father Richards of Georgetown, where Stoddard managed to get Kenneth a prep-school scholarship, a similar background was sketched: "When I became intimate with the family and saw his unfortunate predicament. . . my sympathy was aroused and I took up his defense."
3
At any rate, all the Washington people, from Henry Adams to Bishop Keane, seemed to give their blessing to Stoddard's and Kenneth's living together in their new home.
The day for taking possession of the house at 300 M Street was Saturday, 9 November 1895. Ken, wearing his blue and gray jersey, spent the day in class at Georgetown. Stoddard ate lunch at the university and "flew" into town to see the matinee performance of
Nancy Lee.
He dined at the "Log Cabin," chatted with the actor Arthur Mayo, and then came home to the "Bungalow." For a while he talked with Jules, a middle-aged Frenchman, formerly employed as a janitor at the university, who was to be his cook, ''man-servant," and factotum. (The other permanent resident was Stoddard's dog, Mexique.) Stoddard was in a decidedly honeymoon mood when he went up to the bed "chamber," where the twin beds had been made up with new sheets, which he thought of as "virgin." But midnight came, and Kenneth was nowhere in sight. Stoddard dozed, awoke, fretted, tried to read. It was after 2:30, when up the stairs came Ken and his show-business brother, Eddie, and finally Eddie's show dog. The dog had muddy paws, and its first trick was to jump into bed with Stoddard and desecrate the "virgin" sheets. Then Eddie decided to stay the night! The crestfallen Stoddard knew, however, that there would be many other nights. The next morning Jules served them all a hearty breakfast of cornmeal mush, beefsteak, creamed potatoes, rolls, and coffee. The breakfast table was especially pretty with its scarlet cloth and napkins. Stoddard "said grace, being quite in the mood." He felt "grateful and happy" (D 9 Nov. 1895).
Stoddard continued to be delighted with his new life in the "Bungalow" (sometimes called "Saint Anthony's Rest"), which was, after all. the first home he could truly call his own since leaving San Francisco. On the outside, the house was just another narrow, two-story red brick building, indistinguishable from all the others along the street except that its corner location afforded an eastward view from the ivy-covered side windows. But inside, the house soon reflected Stoddard's person-
 
Page 135
ality, which expressed itself in all of the exotic trappings he had been carting around for years. Many friends helped with the furnishings. Mrs. O'Connor herself went with Stoddard to pick out kitchen things. (This woman had given Kenneth to him "'Body and Bones,' as she said,"
4
and thus the Kid had become his quasi-"adopted" son.) The Storers contributed velvet Morris chairs; Henry Adams sent over three Persian pillows; Father Hudson mailed surprise packages; the ladies of the Charles Warren Stoddard Reading Circle proffered a cut-glass punch bowl.
Soon after moving in, Stoddard began to send glowing reports to Father Hudson: "We three are happier than I can tell you. Our life is almost ideal. . . . This is a rare housea house of love. We all love each other here and Jules is devoted to Kenneth."
5
But the euphoria could not last forever. Visitors to the "Bungalow" observed that Stoddard was, indeed, deeply troubled and depressed. A reporter noticed that his eyes were "blue and melancholy," that he was in a "most terrible fit of the blues,'' and that he loathed having to go to the university on lecture days.
6
Of his teaching, Stoddard told Hamlin Garland, I do it only because I
must
pay my board." Garland felt that all of the religious statuary in the house "did not lighten his gloom," that Stoddard resembled an "aged lion muttering behind his bars, patient but breaking forth now and again in growls of pain."
7
Stoddard, in fact, did have a number of concerns. Would there be money enough to pay for everything? Could he sell some articles to the New York magazines or place his novel? Was Kenneth, who was more "clever" than "studious," playing hooky from Georgetown? Was he being influenced by low companions? Was he staying away from women? High on this list of worries was the situation at the university.
II
On 15 September 1896, the Pope dismissed Bishop Keane in a move generally hailed as a victory for the Cahenslyists. The new rector was Dr. Thomas Conaty, a nominally "conservative" priest from Massachusetts. Caught by surprise, the liberals were staggered. The Archbishop of Saint Paul wrote to a friend: "Something is to be done to stop this dreadful and diabolical conspiracy. . . . The university is dead: nothing can revive it. The Jesuits have triumphed there for good."
8
Stoddard's assessment of the situation was equally dark. "This university scandal is
 
Page 136
killing me," he wrote in November 1896. "It is killing the institution." About a year later he commented, "All is chaos out at the CU of A; never was there anything more disheartening."
9
Adding to Stoddard's insecurity was the appearance of a rival: Maurice Francis Egan, the new professor of English. During Egan's first year on campus (1895-96), Stoddard tried not to pay this "fauning [sic] flattering fool" the "slightest heed."
10
Of course, he was not unaware of Egan's many accomplishments. Although ten years younger than Stoddard, Egan could boast of degrees from four universities, a number of published works, a wife and three children, and a growing acquaintance with the cream of Washington society. Egan
did
boast of these things, but at the outset Stoddard liked to think he still had the upper hand.
11
The university, after all, had just granted him an honorary Doctorate of Letters. He was Professor of English Literature; Egan merely his associate. Even before the departure of Bishop Keane, however, Stoddard regarded Egan as "frivolous, superficial, treacherous. untrustworthy in all things; a living lie."
12
Egan gloated about all the courses he was offering. While Stoddard continued with his History of English Literature (three hours a week), his rival was teaching Anglo-Saxon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Philology of Tudor English, History of English Journalism, The Art of Versification, and ever so much more. In his autobiography, Egan characterized Stoddard as an incompetent and childish colleague whose ignorance"he would spell Carlyle 'Carlisle'"and casual approach to teaching had been a "thorn" in his side.
13
Worst of all, perhaps, the university was facing a financial crisis that made it likely that one or the other would soon be asked to resign. Stoddard could not depend on the new rector's favor as he had depended on Bishop Keane's.
The pattern of Stoddard's social life changed somewhat after he had set up housekeeping, and it was modified further when the storm clouds began to drift over the university. Throughout 1893, 1894, and 1895, he seemed to be in a comparatively carefree mood, busy with his Washington friends when he was not on vacation with far-flung acquaintances: Willie Woodworth in Maine, Frank Millet and Joe Strong at the Chicago Exposition in 1893, his colleague Father Pace on a trip to Florida in 1894. During the summer of 1895, he visited relatives and old Bohemian Club members in San Francisco. As usual, he spent many of his holidays in Massachusetts. In Auburndale he met the Catholic poet Louise Imogen Guiney, who shared with him an interest

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