H. A. Espy Children, 1913
As an only child, I grew up having not only a bed of my own but, also, my room to myself. It was always a revelation to me to have a “sleep over” (although we didn’t know that term; we just said “stay overnight”) with a friend who had to share her room with a younger or older sister.
In this house a generation earlier, when my mother was growing up, bedrooms and beds seemed to be very changeable. Or maybe the best word would be exchangeable. I’ve not yet been able to figure out whose room was whose. By the time I remember, my grandparents slept in the southeast bedroom upstairs. But Willard once told me that that’s the room he and Edwin had when they were boys.
By the same faulty reasoning, no doubt, I’ve always thought the northeast bedroom upstairs was Medora’s. That’s because that was ‘my’ room for a short time when I was twelve and had a very bad case of hives. (The doctor had to come all the way from Ilwaco and give me a shot of something.) And it was during that time that I found Medora’s diary in the desk in that room. I never had the nerve to ask who got the room when she died during her senior year in high school. I’m sure someone did, but I’ve always thought of it as Medora’s room.
My mom was the youngest so she probably had the little northwest bedroom, but when the children were young and my grandmother had a “hired girl” in the house, that was where she stayed, unless she was local and went home at night. That left only the southwest room for Mona and Sue and maybe my mother. And where were my grandparents? They didn’t convert the parlor to a bedroom as it is now until the 1930s.
Ruth Richardson, 1908
It became more complicated when there were overnight guests, and that seemed to be a frequent occurrence! One hundred years ago today, Medora (then 15) wrote in her diary:
Wednesday, June 17, 2014 — I was so glad to get home. Unpacked my trunk, a big job done. Ruth and Mama put up the curtains in the dining room. Ruth and I slept together. I share my room with her while she is here.
Ruth was my grandmother’s sister and was just eight years older than Medora. The next day Medora wrote:
Thursday, June 18, 1914 — We flew around all morning…The sewing bee met here in the afternoon. It consisted of Mrs. Heinrick, Mrs. Stoner, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Wirt, Mrs. Myra Fisher, Miss Ethel Irving, Ruth H., Mama and I. Dale went to sleep behind the door, Willard behind Mama’s back in her chair. I slept with Sue tonight. Mrs. D. slept with Ruth.
Mrs. D. was the mother of Medora’s Uncle Cecil – not quite a relative, but one of the many family “connections” who often visited Oysterville and stayed here, especially during the summer. I can’t really imagine how my grandmother managed.
It occurs to me, though, that in 1914 “the babies” – that would be Edwin, Willard and my mom who were the youngest – would still have been sleeping in the downstairs room they called “The Nursery.” Also, during those years they often fixed up the south porch as a “Sleeping Porch” in the summer, believing strongly that you couldn’t get enough fresh air. Those thoughts open up a host of other possibilities.
I don’t think it’s possible to figure out the long-ago Espy Family sleeping arrangements in this house. It was definitely a case of Musical Beds.
It might be nice to have a little brass plaque made up with an inscription for Medora and put it on the door to the room you believe to have been hers since that is where you found her diary which ended up becoming such a cunning book!