L. Miller Minutes

To kick off this series of discussions on American short stories, I will be taking a look at Effie Wittlesy from 1886, by newspaper columnist, social commentor, playwright, humorist, and Hoosier (shoutout to Indiana), George Ade.

Length:

6 pages, 35 minutes comfortably

Characters

Mr. Wallace, Mrs. Wallace, Effie Whittlesy

Setting

The story takes place in Mr. and Mrs. Wallace’s dining room in Chicago.

Crude Plot Summary

1) Mr. and Mrs. Wallace are well-to-do folk in Chicago in need of a new housemaid. Mrs. Wallace presents a new housemaid – this is where the story starts.

2) Mrs. Wallace introduces Effie Whittlesy as the new housemaid to Mr. Wallace. Effie, by happenstance and unbeknown Mrs. Wallace, grew up with Mr. Wallace in their small town of Brainerd. They go way back.

3) Over dinner and her first night on the job, Effie and Mr. Wallace reminisce over the commonalities between them.

4) Mrs. Wallace grows uncomfortable knowing that Mr. Wallace and Effie Whittlesy had known each other especially since Effie is going to be their housemaid, and doubly because during the course of conversation Effie referred to Mr. Wallace by his first name, Ed.

5) We learn through a key discussion while Effie stepped into the kitchen that Mrs. Wallace did not grow up in a small, rural town like Mr. Wallace, and that she come’s from a higher socio-economic background.

• Mrs. Wallace tells Mr. Wallace how uncouth it would be if dinner guests came over and their housemaid were to refer to Mr. Wallace as Ed, to which Ed shrugs off.
• Mr. Wallace tells Mrs. Wallace that he wouldn’t want Effie return to their hometown and let it be known that he requested for her to call him “Mr. Wallace.”

6) After deliberating, Mrs. Wallace informs Mr. Wallace that she does not want Effie continue as housemaid. Mr. Wallace generally understands and agrees to diplomatically cut ties with Effie as housemaid.

7) In his method of cutting ties with Effie as housemaid, Mr. Wallace agrees to pay for Effie’s fare to return home. He also promises that should she return to Chicago, he would help her find work.

8) Effie departs. The story concludes with Mrs. Wallace taking offense to Mr. Wallace offering to help Effie should she return to the big city. In humor, Mr. Wallace told Mrs. Wallace that he told Effie that Mrs. Wallace would be delighted to see her again, to which Mrs. Wallace became appalled, stating, “What should I do?” Mr. Wallace responds that Mrs. Wallace will be able to manage, even if she wasn’t raised in Brainerd. Mrs. Wallace felt revulsion, then with pride in her husband, she said she would try.

Themes

Rural vs. Urban: class, hospitality, pride, etiquette, what is snobbery.

Marriage: prior history, communication, privacy, patience.

Domestic Diplomacy: resolving conflict, agreeing to conditions, capitulation.

Thoughts

When reading Effie Whittlesy, it’s fairly apparent that George Ade leans into developing a commentary on rural vs. urban views of class, hospitality, cordiality, pride, snobbiest by interjecting Effie Whittlesy into the Wallace household. Ade himself saw both rural America and urban America by growing up in rural Indiana, then moving to Chicago. He would not have been the only person to have migrated from a rural area to an urban area – it was a common trend for many Americans during the 1880s.

To me, I think George Ade wrote Mr. Wallace as himself, and uses the story of Effie Whittlesy as a critique of the prevailing snobbiness of urbanites at that time – afterall, I’m not choosing the word snob, Ade chose this word in highlighting Mrs. Wallace’s willingness to allow Mr. Wallace to present himself as above (class-wise) to the new housemaid Effie, a friend of his. In the discussion between Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Mr. Wallace states,

“I’d hate to have her go back to Brainerd and report that she met me here in Chicago and I was too stuck up to remember old times and requested her to address me as ‘Mister Wallace.’ Now, you never lived in a small town.”

“No, I never enjoyed that privilege, ” said Mrs. Wallace, dryly.

To which Mr. Wallace eloquently retorts my favorite line of the story,

“Well, it is a privilege in some respects, but it carries certain penalties with it, too. It’s a very poor schooling for a fellow who wants to be a snob.”

This dialogue presented out of context from the rest of the story sounds a bit argumentative between the characters, however the mood is generally light and discussive between the Wallace’s. An aspect I personally enjoy, Ade maintains a generally witty mood by Mr. Wallace, and a light stubborn mood by Mrs. Wallace, who in the end seems to accept Mr. Wallace’s viewpoint, even if in a minor way (see last line of the story). It’s clear the Wallace’s maintain patience with each other in having an open discussion of the matter, when bringing up the differences of how they were raised. I enjoyed how he painted Mr. Wallace as diplomatic of the situation: he is understanding of his wife’s viewpoint and does not want to strain his marriage, while still being cordial to his friend Effie.

Ade’s humor in crafting his dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Wallace makes Effie Whittlesy a worthwhile read alone. I imagine Midwesterners specifically would enjoy this work.

To read along and join the discussion in this series, the book I’m reading is  100 Great American Short Stories (Dover Thrift Edition), 2020. I’ll share the link of stories that are available online through library sources. This first read by George Ade is a bit of a deep cut, and I could not locate any publicly available copies to share.

Next up: A Night (1863) by Louisa May Alcott

Cheers.