MARCH 29, 1919 HE MAKES REPLY
ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL
100 YEARS LATER
by Doug Capra © 2018-19
Thursday -- March 29, 1919
HE MAKES REPLY
ABOVE – The front page of the Saturday edition of the Seward Gateway (The Alaska Evening Post) for March 29, 1919. Note Kent’s response
in the center: HE MAKES REPLY. I’ll place a larger and clearer copy of the
letter further down.
We don’t know when Kent learns of Mary Bain Wright’s letter.
Although he may have just bought a newspaper, it’s more likely one of his
friends shows it to him. Sometime late in the day of March 28, 1919, Rockwell
Kent reads Mary the schoolteacher’s letter to the editor of the Seward Gateway. It’s front page center
with a definite challenge: WANTED – AN EXPLANATION. That’s a challenge Rockwell
Kent cannot ignore. Since it’s to be their last night in town, he and Rockie
are probably at a farewell dinner with the Brownell’s or the Root’s. It is difficult enough for Kent and Rockie with their final
packing and goodbyes – but now there is this letter to deal with. Either Friday
night or early Saturday, Kent probably hand writes his reply to Miss Wright and
then borrows a typewriter from a friend. No later than Saturday morning he
submits the typed letter to the Seward Gateway. Later that day he heads down
Sixth Avenue to the U.S. Government Cable Office. There he sends a telegram to
Kathleen.
ABOVE – The telegram Kent sends to Kathleen on Saturday, March
29, 1919. BELOW – The U.S. Government Cable Office on the bottom of Sixth Ave.
in Seward. The building was constructed in 1905, the year Seward got cable
service. The building, in private hands and beautifully restored, stands today
in the same location. Photo (circa 1915) from the Frank Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress.
Up until recently, I’ve not found any records of this
controversy in the Kent letters at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian
Institute. What I have noticed is that a significant number of letters related
to Kent’s 1918-1919 Alaska trip are scattered among various files. A few years
ago I found Kent’s typed reply to Miss Write’s letter in one of the files
labeled “Wilderness.” This is the only reference in writing I’ve found
connected to this controversy.
ABOVE – Kent’s typed response to Miss Wright’s letter. BELOW –
The letters as it appeared on the front page of the Saturday, March 29, 1919
Seward Gateway (The Alaska Evening Post).
BELOW is a typescript of the letter with my comments. Based upon
my interview with Rockie years later, Kent didn’t go to Rockie and to get his
side of the story before writing the letter.
HE MAKES REPLY
Kent continues:
Moreover as a public school teacher you are doubtless further limited in sympathy by the unfortunate and outworn principles of public school instruction. Listen to me, for here's a bit of wisdom of more value than all the normal school has had to teach. There is no one thing so precious in a child as independence of spirit. The power of a child to think for himself and the courage to stick to his convictions in the face of a bullying teacher and a crowd of children, THAT comes nearer to being the very soul of fine manhood and true Americanism than all the procelytising {sic} of public schools from now on to the end of time can form. Suppress your impulse to strike a child, -- and right there is a very serious "Menace of Kaiserism" -- and brutality ends. Here we get a clear view of Kent’s attitude toward public education in his day. It’s designed to squelch any creativity, initiative, defiance, and individuality. It’s designed to create compliant sheep, members of the herd – Les moutons de Panurge, as Francois Rabelais might suggest. Miss Wright had said that she “gave the young stranger a little slap with my book saying with mock severity ‘You’d better not talk like that around here,’ and resumed my reading.” Sounds like an innocent little rebuke – not a “bullying teacher and a crowd of children”? Kent seems to imply she struck Rockie. Perhaps she did, not an odd behavior for a teacher at that time. This is how Kent explains his use the “Menace of Kaiserism.” It is true, though, that Rockie was bullied by older local boys early in their visits to Seward – probably in August and September 1918. Right away he made a big mistake by bragging that he could count to ten in German. That didn’t help. Kent writes in Wilderness about rough-housing with Rockie to show him how strong he is and that he doesn’t have to tolerate bullying. Kent gives him boxing lessons on Fox Island, but Rockie says the instruction never really took hold. Later, the bullying stopped and Rockie made lots of friends in Seward. A few old timers who were children at the time, told me that’s how things were for a new kid in town. The harassment and bullying didn’t last long, but as a newcomer on strange turf, a youngster had to learn the local codes.
SIDEBAR -- It's 1998. I’m sitting at Borders Books in
Anchorage signing copies of Wilderness
and Northern Christmas both with my
forewords. A woman I later learn is Rosemary Hansom Redmond approaches me with a
battered
first edition of Northern Christmas.
Read the inscription, she urges me. Dated April 13, 1976, the
inscription is written by Dr. Howard G. Romig, who was born in
Seward on January 1, 1911. I had known
Howard and taught some of his children in school. Howard’s father, Dr. Joseph Romig, was
Alaska’s famous “Dog-Team Doctor.” The
family lived in Seward for many years before moving to Anchorage.
The inscription reads:
To Rosemary
Hanson Redmond with affection
Howard
I consider
this little book a jewel -- I lived in Seward on
Resurrection Bay
Alaska at the same time the Kents lived
on Fox Island. This brings back scenes of my childhood --
and what is sad --
another scene of a frightened but, brave boy
of 8 or 9 back up to
the front of the Sexton Hotel. He was
being tormented by
some larger boys as being “Pro-German.”
In response to the
question “Do you like the Germans” -- he
bravely responded
“I’ve been taught to like all people.”
It seems
true that Rockwell Kent Sr. made an
arrangement with
Axel Lundblad -- (who ran a fish market)
to let him know by a
“light” or message when the frightful
war was over -- and
from this & other things the father & boy
were considered sort
of enemies.
I’d like to
point out that my dad, Joseph Herman
Romig sent my
childhood tutor and companion, Karl Von
Brinkman Hall to
Nashaqak for the duration of the war to
escape a similar
criticism -- actually to Mr. Mittendorf who
with my dad once ran
a trading post. Later Mr. Hall emerged
owner of the post,
married a native woman and had a family.
HGR
My guess is that the German flag incident with Miss Wright may have happened during September or November 1918 while
the Kent’s were in Seward and while Rockie was being bullied. The war was
almost over and tens of thousands of American troops were fighting in France,
many dying. Emotions were running high. It might explain why Rockie could have
stood up for himself as his father had been urging him to do. Independence of
Spirit. Stick to your convictions. Don’t be bullied. I’m not suggesting Rockie
said what Miss Wright claims. Perhaps he did in anger. Perhaps not. Perhaps he
tried to explain why he picked that flag, and he just couldn’t articulate it
amidst the bullying. Perhaps not. By the time I met him, perhaps he had erased
the incident from his mind. As he read the letters here, he seemed truly
stunned. It appeared obvious to me that this was new information to him.
Kent ends his letter:
As to your letter, so unfortunately personal, it has received my attention only because of the importance the Seward Gateway appears to have attached to it. On the eve of my departure it has taken a school teacher from Indiana to furnish me with one reason why a man with children to educate should not return to Seward. Kent hits three points. First, Miss Wright’s letter is a very personal attack. Kent doesn’t run from a fight. Indeed, sometimes he encourages them. But go after me, he is saying. Don’t attack my son. That’s cowardly. Come right out and say I’m un-American and treasonous. On the other hand, these are not the times to play that game, as Kent learned in Newfoundland. An article in same Seward Gateway that ran Kent’s reply, provides a list of Seward foreigners who had applied for citizenship. Because they avoided the draft they now barred from ever becoming American Citizens.
As he ends the letter, Kent notes that the only reason this story has become so big is because the editor of the Seward Gateway has put Miss Wright’s comments on the front page – not as a mere letter to the editor. Kent also reminds the old-timers that it has taken an Outsider – “a school teacher from Indiana to…” -- and this is where Kent really takes a swipe at Seward – “…to furnish me with one reason why a man with children to educate should not return to Seward. Note that Kent doesn’t say he won’t return. But he’ll be damned if he has his children attend the Seward schools. Knowing how much Seward is encouraging settlement, he knows how to hit where it hurts.
Kent’s letter ends with his signature
Rockwell Kent
Interestingly, the editor of the newspaper feels he must add his opinion in a paragraph following Kent's signature.
The above communication of Rockwell Kent is published as a reply to a very pointed, well written and logical query Miss Wright made in yesterday's Gateway to a former communication of Mr. Kent's which was Utopianistic also considered propagandistic. Today's contribution is given only as a matter of fairness, and without editorial comment; which certainly could be made
(Editor)
Without editorial comment? Right!
I used to attach much more importance to this incident than I do now. Frankly, I don’t think Kent thought it significant either. These were the times. Despite this incident, things were looking up for the artist. He’d be back to Kathleen and the children soon. He had some paintings and drawings with possibilities. He had many prospects for returning to Alaska with funding. He had hopes for his marriage, and determined to leave New York City to escape more temptations, to live quietly and peacefully with his family at some old New England farmhouse that he could restore. This attack upon Rockie didn’t come from one of the true Alaskan pioneers. They had remained his friends. What he had warned them about in his Praise for Alaska letter had come to pass. A newcomer, an Outsider, a busybody school teacher had openly proved his point. This kind of tyranny was happening all over the country. That’s why he wanted to isolate himself from the current culture. 1919-1920 were difficult years for this country. I’ll discuss this more in the next entry.
Once back in Vermont finishing his paintings and writing Wilderness, a letter from Olson tells him that Miss Wright was not rehired for the next school term, and that the editor of the Seward Gateway also left town. It seems most people in Seward were not happy with that kind of personal attack highlighted on the front page of the local newspaper.
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