APPROACHING NEW YEAR'S EVE 1918
ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Approaching New Year’s Eve 1918 The sun over Fox Island a little after noon on Dec. 31, 2018. Capra photo Christmas has passed. It was a wonderful, magical day on Fox Island – at least as described in Wilderness , and later in the 1940 little book, Northern Christmas . But the letters tell a different story. Kent has been ill through the holiday. “It’s sad being sick away from you,” he writes on Dec. 29th. “I think it’s nothing but a nervous breakdown of my whole digestive system after these three months of worry and unhappiness. It’s much like the trouble I had in Newfoundland. I’ve tried every remedy I have – or will have tonight when I take castor oil. Fortunately, I have capsules of it to take, thanks to Mother’s kind thoughtfulness in sending them.” Between the illness and planning a special Fox Island Christmas, he hasn’t spent any time with his art. “I feel so tire