Diana of the Dunes, page 14
Right onward.
June 4, 1915
I’m in the true author rage at editorial “tyranny.” The person who selected and now and then revised doubtless meant honest, but he wasn’t working in dense solitude, poor thing. Only he really should not, even at that, have made Emerson talk like Greenwich Village. I wrote Emerson says if you are popular in your set, it is a bad sign, but if people look at you with strange looks of respect and half dislike, you are probably right.
APPENDIX D
Newspaper Article by Alice Gray
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE
JULY 26, 1916
“BACK TO DUNES, SAYS ALICE GRAY AFTER CITY
TOUR: ‘NYMPH’ OF INDIANA SHORE FINDS MOVIES
AND PIER SIGHTS TEDIOUS.”
Bits of Philosophy
Miss Alice Gray, the “nymph of the dunes,” came back yesterday to the civilization she had deserted—and missed her usual afternoon plunge in Lake Michigan.
She came in metropolitan raiment borrowed from a neighbor vacationing on the sands. The “nymph,” in a tan suit, white oxfords and a floppy hat with pink ribbons, was much as she had been in her brilliant days as a student in the University of Chicago, although hot and uncomfortable. The city’s clothes and ways were heavy and wearisome and she longed for the solitude of the sands almost the moment after her arrival.
The blare of wealth and noise, however, gave her few impressions. Only the stretches and the deep silences could bring forth enthusiasm from her. This is what she wrote:
By Alice Gray
I knew very well I shouldn’t have any “impressions” on a first night back in town. The things I disliked annoy me less, for the time at least. I walked up and down the new pier without quite the aversion I had for Jackson Park beach after it was crowded; boats and patches of darkness are oases in the desert of glare, and one hopes the people in the chairs may be happy.
It takes perhaps an hour in the street car for the average Chicagoan to get there. But your millions for this, and not a quarter of a million to save the dunes from being Garyized, with the dunes now only an hour away by train. Is this forward-looking Chicago?
Never a Movie Fan
I went for the first time in my life to the movies—The Tribune’s German war pictures. It is a shock to have one’s usual impressions vanish so quickly; only the marching lines have something of the satisfying satiety of the fleeting eternal waves. I can sense something of the charm of the movies—far more than I had expected. But I think I could never be a move fan unless the scenes were far longer—a vast review, perhaps.
Yes, one loves him, the trim shouldered German infantryman. The rapidity with which the scene vanishes is almost a stab. But the marchers are much better; a big review one fancies might have the satisfying sense of stability of the mutably eternal waves themselves.
Durability of Movies
I got some sense of the charm of the movies. But I wonder if we shall really feel them as art so long as they have that torturing sense of evasiveness? It is the essence of the temperal.
But the weight of these stretches! After all, is anything else in the world real but that?
How does it seem to have a good city dinner again with the dancers gliding by and to walk over the new pier and through crowds, and ride on street cars, and sit at a desk in a busy office and even to glimpse vanity? Write about that as about the dunes, requests The Tribune lady who has been personally conducting a first night back in town.
Loves Silence of Dunes
My dear, I can’t; and to say why would be to discourse on the distinction between the artist and the journalist. I love the great silent darkness up there; the silence that lives in the noise of winds and water, the darkness that finds itself in the fleeting, eternal waves of those reaches of waste sand; the only reality of life for me is there. But the tireless officiating of those war endeavors in the movies, and the heaviness of those stretches of wounded soldiers, they indeed rebuke me and make me futile and self-indulgent, willful and whimsical.
Not Old Haunts
The sights I have seen on a night back in town have been not my old haunts but new experiences, though of types I had known and disliked or else expected not to like.
Then, as to the pier, I used to call down upon myself the charge of snobbishness by expressing the opinion that it was a waste of the lake front to give it up to amusement parks, the city life to tarnish the lake air.
The fisherman down by me much prefer their work in the open to its alternative switching and stoking in Hammond, but whatever they are doing, their idea of real life is short periods of hard work and long intervals of idleness on the lake.
Silken Sheen vs. Solitude
But the city dinner, after that primitiveness in things culinary on the dunes and steps before the meal is ready and eaten, was satisfying, indeed. The flower-like silken gowns of the diners, the gleaming dining room, they impress one after nine months of solitude away from all life.
But the silences and darkness out there are what I love. I must go back to them at once.
APPENDIX E
“Chicago’s Kinland”
Essay by Alice Gray
READ ON APRIL 6, 1917, AT FULLERTON HALL,
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Chicago is used to thinking of herself as the child of Lake Michigan, in the prosaic sense of her commercial origin; for the lake not only gave her her water-borne trade, but deflected the land routes between East and Northwest so as to make her the inevitable railroad center of the country. The lake is literally her alma mater, the mother who fed her.
But when we come to form myths on our geological knowledge—as the Greeks did on their guesses—as to the origin of our city, we shall think of her as the child of Lake Michigan in a more poetic sense.
The great glacier, or ice sheet, which once extended over the Middle West down to the Ohio river, melted, gradually covering the surface level and deep with its rich black soil, until it had reached about the present limits of Chicago. Here the glacier stopped and stood still for a long time, leaving a deeper deposit which forms a ridge a few miles wide encircling the Chicago plain. This runs from Maywood and LaGrange through Palos Springs to Dyer, Indiana, and thence northeast to within three or four miles of the lake shore. As the glacier melted further, the water stood in a little lake between this ridge and the ice, with its outlet to the southwest through the DesPlaines river. This lake—which, as its level lowered, retreated to the east and north and finally found a northern outlet—has for obvious reasons been given the name Lake Chicago, though it might be said to be Lake Michigan in her childhood.
So the glacier which came down from the north to give Illinois its chief treasure—its deep, rich soil—tarried at Chicago on the way back to give birth to the lake. The lake, when it retreated, left the Chicago plain leveled ready for the city. To the east, in Indiana, it left a somewhat narrower strip of fine level sand. In this the northwest wind, having shared with Chicago its vigor and joy and renewed its delight as it passed over the lake, has moulded the Dunes.
So the Indiana Dune country, like Chicago herself, is the child of Lake Michigan and the Northwest Wind. It is, indeed—
The land her great wind gave her from her lake,
Where naught of man’s endures before the suns.
Besides its nearness to Chicago and its beauty, its spiritual power, there is between the Dune Country and the city a more than sentimental bond—a family tie. To see the Dunes destroyed would be for Chicago the sacrilegious sin which is not forgiven.
As a dower for her sons and her daughters
The heedless young city shall take
This gift of the wind and the waters
From her mother, her lake.
Notes
INTRODUCTION
1. Earl H. Reed, Sketches in Duneland (New York: John Lane Company, 1918).
2. P.S. Goodman, letter to the editor, Chicago Daily Tribune, June 22, 1921. Goodman defended his naming of the dune peaks for Prairie Club members and one for Diana. He wrote: “I confess to placing Diana’s name on the map, but does not public interest in Miss Gray justify it?” P.S. Goodman, map of Indiana dunes (Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1920).
3. Chesterton Tribune, “Nymph Alice Now a Diana,” November 16, 1916.
4. Chicago Examiner, “Diana of Sand Dunes’ is Found, She’s a Graduate of U. of Chicago,” July, 24, 1916.
5. Ibid.
CHICAGO CHILDHOOD
6. Dominic Pacyga and Ellen Skerrett, Chicago: City of Neighborhoods (Chicago: Loyola University Press). 1986
7. Commission on Chicago Landmarks and the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, “Chicago Historic Resources Survey: Community Area no. 59, McKinley Park,” City Hall, 1996.
8. The city’s Bureau of Vital Statistics has no birth certificate for Alice Gray because, at the time, only hospital births required record keeping. The U.S. census of 1910 indicates her birth date as March 25, 1881; the date is also confirmed by her transcript at the University of Chicago. Her death certificate, containing information provided by a nephew, incorrectly states her birth date as November 25, 1881.
9. Illinois Labor History Society, “The Chicago Stockyards on the Eve of the CIO,” 1936, http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/stkyards.htm.
10. Chicago Daily Tribune, “Silver Anniversary of a High School,” May 27, 1900.
11. Ibid.
12. Chicago Daily Tribune, “South Division High School,” June 28, 1895.
13. South Division was later renamed Wendell Phillips High School and relocated.
14. Chicago Daily Tribune, “End High School Days,” June 25, 1897.
AMBROSE AND SALLIE GRAY
15. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
16. United States Pension Agency affidavits.
17. Ann Turner, “Guide to Indiana Civil War Manuscripts,” 1965, Indiana Civil War Centennial Commission, Indianapolis.
18. United States Pension Agency affidavits.
19. The location is now a parking lot.
20. United States Pension Office records.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Marion Noble LaRocco (daughter of Dorothy Dunn Noble, who was Alice Gray’s niece and the daughter of Alice’s sister, Leonora Dunn), in an interview with the author, May 20, 2010. LaRocco shared some favorite family stories about Alice. Unfortunately, the family’s photographs of Alice Gray were lost during a move.
25. Dorothy Dunn Noble (Alice Gray’s niece), audiotape recording retelling family stories about Alice. The tape was made by the LaRocco family but is currently missing.
PHI BETA KAPPA
26. Chicago Daily Tribune, “Decennial Day Given to Lore,” June 18, 1901.
27. New York Times, “Diana of the Dunes Dies of Privations,” February 10, 1925.
28. Department of Mathematics, “The Mathematics Genealogy Project,” North Dakota State University, http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=5879.
29. G.A. Bliss, “Autobiographical Notes,” American Mathematical Monthly 59, no. 9 (November 1952): 595. Mathematical Association of America, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2306763.
30. Jusserand’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book is titled (With Americans of Past and Present Days, published in 1916.)
FROM THE USNO TO GERMANY
31. Delphos Daily Herald (Delphos, OH), “Women in the Employ of the Government,” January 16, 1903.
32. Ibid.
33. The Contributions of Women to the United States Naval Observatory: The Early Years, 1997, http://maia.usno.navy.mil/women_history/history.html.
34. Oral History Interview with Alfred H. Mikesell, U.S. Naval Observatory Oral History Program.
35. Contributions of Women.
36. Olga Mae Schiemann, personal letter, 10 November 1954, Sisters of Providence Archives, St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.
37. The information was provided by Martha Connelly, as researched by her former student, Anika Schusser. Connelly is a senior lecturer at the University of Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany.
38. The University of Gottingen did not record information about what a particular student studied; furthermore, visiting students’ transcripts left the institution when the student did, in their own care.
39. Schiemann, personal letter, 10 November 1954, Sisters of Providence Archives.
40. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of Dunes Loses Fear of Men,” June 6, 1918.
41. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of the Dunes Dissects Soul in Diary,” June 3, 1918.
LEAVING CHICAGO
42. Thomas H. Cannon, H.H. Loring and Charles J. Robb, eds., History of the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana: Embracing the Counties of Lake, Porter and LaPorte 1 (Indianapolis, IN: Historians’ Association Publishers), 1927.
43. The University of Chicago cannot verify this employment history.
44. Olga Mae Schiemann, personal letter, 21 June 1952, Sisters of Providence Archives, St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.
45. Chicago Herald, “Nymph of Dunes Gives Interview,” July 23, 1916.
46. The diary is appended.
47. Taken from an article in the Chicago Examiner, July 23, 1916, lost to history but often quoted in early works about Alice Gray.
48. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of the Dunes Dissects Soul in Diary,” June 3, 1918.
49. Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, “‘Diana of the Dunes,’ Fled from the World of Men, Discloses Mystery of Weird Life to Woman,” August 1, 1916.
50. Chicago Herald, “Nymph of Dunes Gives Interview,” July 23, 1916.
51. Porter County Vidette, “Mystery Still Hangs About Hermit Woman,” July 26, 1916.
52. Chicago Herald, “Nymph of Dunes Gives Interview,” July 23, 1916.
53. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of the Dunes Dissects Soul in Diary,” June 3, 1918.
54. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
55. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of the Dunes Says ‘L’ Brought Her Sunshine,” June 2, 1918.
DRIFTWOOD
56. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
57. Lake County Times, “Nymph Is Plump and Forty,” July 24, 1916.
58. Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, “Diana of Dunes Fled from World of Men, Discloses Mystery of Weird Life to Woman,” August 1, 1916.
59. The site was eventually designated as the Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary. A house was built there in the 1950s; it has since been razed.
60. Edward C. Howell, memoir, Westchester Township Historical Society.
61. Gary Evening Post, “Woman Hermit of Sand Dunes Tells Sad Tale,” July 24, 1916.
62. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
63. Ibid.
64. Chesterton Tribune, “Nymph ‘Alice’ Now a ‘Diana,’” November 16, 1916.
65. Schiemann, personal letter, 21 June 1952, Sisters of Providence Archives.
66. Schiemann, personal letter, 10 November 1954, Sisters of Providence Archives.
67. Margaret A. Larson, Memoirs of Old Baileytown ‘Plus’ (1999; Portage, IN: V.L. Montreuil, 1998).
68. The home of Agnes Larson now serves as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Learning Center and is located at 700 West Howe Road in Chesterton.
69. Gary Evening Post, “Woman Hermit of Sand Dunes Tells Sad Tale,” July 24, 1916.
70. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
71. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of Dunes Loses Fear of Men,” June 6, 1918.
72. Gary Evening Post, “Woman Hermit of Sand Dunes Tells Sad Tale,” July 24, 1916.
73. Prairie Club Bulletin, March 1925.
74. Lake County Times, “Nymph of Dunes Is Heard from Again,” April 6, 1917.
75. Schiemann, personal letter, 21 June 1952, Sisters of Providence Archives.
76. Oral histories, Westchester Historical Museum.
77. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “Diana of the Dunes Dissects Soul in Diary,” June 3, 1918.
78. Ibid.
79. Chicago Herald and Examiner, “The Diary of Diana of the Dunes,” June 2, 1918.
80. Ibid.
SURFACING IN THE DUNES
81. Earl H. Reed, The Dune Country (New York: John Lane Company, 1916).
82. Gary Tribune, “100 Degrees in Shade: Hottest Gary Has Known,” July 24, 1916.
83. Porter County Vidette, “Luna Slips Into the Earth’s Shadow,” July 19, 1916.
84. Gary Evening Post, “National Dune Park Campaign Launched,” July 17, 1916.
85. Lake County Times, “Adam May Find Six New Eves,” July 17, 1916.
86. Porter County Vidette, “Five Women Have Valpo on Hiker’s Route,” July 12, 1916.
87. Lake County Times, “What Will These Women Try Next?” July 15, 1916.
88. Lake County Times, “Gary Boy Scouts to Capture Shark,” July 14, 1916.
89. Lake County Times, “Small Shark Seen East of Miller,” July 14, 1916.
90. Lake County Times, “Ask for Fair Play at Beach; 2 Hrs. Long Enough for Sport,” July 22, 1916.
91. Lake County Times, “Miller Beach Crowded Sunday,” July 24, 1916.
92. Gary Tribune, “Lake Road Not Large Enough for All Bathers,” July 31, 1916.
93. Chicago Herald, July 30, 1916.
DIANA OF THE DUNES
94. Lake County Times, “Mystic Nymph in Wild Dunes,” July 22, 1916.
95. Lake County Times, “Cave Man? Hist Alice Wake Up!” December 10, 1918.
96. Gary Evening Post, “Mystic Nymph in Wild Sand Dunes,” July 22, 1916.
97. Chicago Herald, “Nymph of Dunes Gives Interview,” July 23, 1916.
98. Lake County Times, “Mystic Nymph in Wild Dunes,” July 22, 1916.
99. Lake County Times, “Nymph Is Plump and Forty,” July 24, 1916.
100. Chicago Herald, “Nymph of Dunes Gives Interview,” July 23,1916.
101. Lake County Times, “Nymph Is Plump and Forty,” July 24, 1916.
