The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (83 page)

Others to whom I am greatly indebted are Ed Wise, for introducing me to the music and story of Louis Moreau Gottschalk; sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, for taking the time to explain in his studio the processes and challenges of large-scale sculpture; Dr. Robert P. Laurence, Ryan O’Donnell, Arthur and Kim Grinnell, Anne Simonnet, Zoe Geer, Kerck Kelsey, James A. Percoco, Denny daRosa, Karen Ogden, David Acton, Tom Ford, James Symington, Dr. William Maguire; and in Paris, Alice Jouve, Fred and Marie-Cécile Street, Odile Hellier, proprietor of the Village Voice Bookshop, Agnes and Laurent Perpère, the staff of the historic Hôtel du Louvre, and especially concierge Carmelo Helguera, and former U.S. ambassador to France Craig R. Stapleton and Dorothy W. Stapleton for their hospitality in Paris and their stories about the ambassador’s residence at 41 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

I thank again each of the following who read and offered valuable suggestions on part or all of the manuscript: John Zentay, Steven Barclay, Dr. Edward Kaplan, Dr. William B. McCullough, Philip W. Pillsbury, Jr., Dr. Fred Pitt man, Robert Doran, and the late George Cochran.

To my longtime editor Michael Korda of Simon & Schuster, and to Carolyn Reidy, Jonathan Karp, Bob Bender, David Rosenthal, Julia Prosser, Jackie Seow, and Gypsy da Silva of Simon & Schuster, to Amy Hill, who designed the book, and Wendell Minor, who designed the jacket, I can only emphasize what joy it has been to work with them and how fortunate I feel to have their support and their friendship.

Again I must express my particular thanks to Fred Wiemer, copy editor
extraordinaire, for his superb, sharp-eyed editing, and this time in both English and French. Proofreaders Jim Stoller, John Morgenstern, Bill Molesky, and Ted Landry, and indexer Chris Carruth were all part of the team.

To my exceptional literary agent, Morton L. Janklow, I am greatly indebted, and especially for his enthusiasm for the idea for this book right from our first conversation about it.

My family has once again played an important part as first readers and as listeners to my continuing talk about the project as it moved forward year by year. Daughter Melissa McDonald and son Geoffrey have read every chapter in successive drafts. Son David has given astute editorial comment throughout, and son Bill accompanied me on the rounds of historic sites in Paris.

My wife, Rosalee Barnes McCullough, has been as always the first of my first readers and the best, wisest provider by far of advice and encouragement. To her I am indebted above all.

— David McCullough
January 24, 2011

A great part of the source material for this book is, in addition to being of historic value, a pure joy to read because so many of the protagonists were superb writers. This is vividly clear from the very start, in what they wrote of their time outward bound for France. Such descriptions to be found in the letters and journals of even those who did not regard themselves as professional writers—like Emma Willard, Charles Sumner, or Thomas Appleton—amply qualify as American literature of the sea. Anyone wishing a sample of the professional virtuosity of a writer like Nathaniel Willis need only read his hilarious account of dining on board the brig
Pacific
in rough weather.

PAGE

3
The thought of going abroad: Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, Vol. I, 190.

4
“a little pleasure concealed”:
Cooper,
Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper
, Vol. I, 126.

4
“when standing in a pair of substantial boots”:
Ibid., 56.

4
By contrast, his friend Charles Sumner:
Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, Vol. I, 92.

4
Emma Willard, founder:
Lutz,
Emma Willard: Pioneer Educator of American Women
, vii.

4
“My dear mother was rather alarmed”:
Cooper,
Correspondence of James Fenimore Cooper
, Vol. I, 52.

5
“got entirely out of trim”:
Franklin,
James Fenimore Cooper: The Early Years
, 395.

5
“How long do you mean to be absent?”:
Cooper,
Gleanings in Europe: France
, Vol. I, 5.

5
“classic features”:
Lutz,
Emma Willard: Pioneer Educator of American Women
, 87.

5
“She was a splendid looking woman”:
Ibid., 45.

6
“Old Ironsides”:
Morse,
Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes
, Vol. I, 81.

6
“tasted the intoxicating pleasure”:
Ibid., 80.

6
tried law school for a year:
Ibid., 78.

6
“anything better than a rural dispenser”:
Ibid., 82.

6
“sameness”:
Ibid., 74.

6
“We learned nominally”:
Ibid., 38.

7
Mathematics utterly bewildered him:
Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, Vol. I, 47.

7
“an indefatigable and omnivorous student”:
Ibid., 106.

7
“The thought of going abroad”:
Ibid., 190.

7
In 1822 he had undertaken:
Morse’s
House of Representatives
hangs in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. His
Marquis de Lafayette
still hangs in New York’s City Hall.

8
Word came of the death of his wife:
Morse,
Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals
, Vol. I, 265.

8
“My education as a painter”:
Ibid., 289.

8
“historical painter”:
Morse passport, Samuel F. B. Morse Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

8
“right hand man”:
Healy,
Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter
, 18.

8
“quite prettily”:
Ibid., 17.

8
“terribly timid”:
Ibid., 18.

8
When the friendly proprietor:
Ibid., 22.

9
“Little Healy”:
Ibid., 25.

9
“I told her that I was an artist”:
Ibid., 31.

9
One small, especially lovely:
The portrait of Fanny Appleton is on display at Longfellow House—Washington’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

9
I knew no one in France:
Healy,
Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter
, 35.

10
“anticipation of Oscar Wilde”:
Holmes,
A Mortal Antipathy
, 4.

10
“dress them up one day”:
Sanderson,
The American in Paris
, Vol. I, preface.

11
When news of the July Revolution: New York Evening Post
, September 8, 1830.

11
He had worked for a while:
Proud part of the Union Oyster House history, Boston, Mass.

11
Steamboats by this time:
Allington and Greenhill,
The First Atlantic Liners
, 7.

12
a London packet fittingly named
Crisis: Cooper,
Gleanings in Europe: France
, Vol. I, 9.

12
But a wide sea voyage:
Washington Irving,
The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon
,
Gent
(NY: Heritage Press, 1939), 8.

13
Fare to Le Havre:
Sanderson,
The American in Paris
, Vol. I, 14.

13
Acquaintances who had made the trip:
Susan Cooper to her sister, May 30, 1826, James Fenimore Cooper Papers, Beinecke Library, Yale University.

13
“I am very glad, my dear”:
Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, Vol. I, 210.

13
“Follow, my dear boy”:
Ibid., 212.

14
The written “Instructions”:
Warren,
The Parisian Education of an American Surgeon
, 8.

14
“fond of theaters and dissipation”:
Arnold,
Memoir of Jonathan Mason Warren
,
M.D.
, 48.

14
“And a sad time”:
Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, Vol. I, 213.

14
“great depression”:
Silverman,
Lightning Man
, 94.

14
“We have left the wharf”:
Pierce,
Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner
, 211.

14
And as she came down the river:
Willis,
Pencillings by the Way
, 12.

15
“the fairest wind”:
Morse,
Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals
, Vol. I, 300.

15
“inquire into everything”:
Brogan,
Alexis de Tocqueville
, 145.

15
“In rough weather”:
Willis,
Pencillings by the Way
, 19–20.

16
“It is a day”:
Ibid., 13.

16
in contrast to Wendell Holmes:
Morse,
Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes
, Vol. I, 83.

16
“The accommodations”: New York Evening Post
, February 28, 1833.

17
I felt nothing of that do-little:
Appleton,
Life and Letters of Thomas Gold Appleton
, 86.

17
“voice in the steerage”:
Ibid., 87–88.

17
“the still-life of the day previous”:
Ibid., 88.

17
“chattering in terror”:
Ibid.

17
“deeply, darkly, beautifully blue”:
Ibid., 89.

17
“A most delightful evening”:
Ibid., 90.

17
What an odd, good-for-nothing:
Ibid., 91–92.

18
“vast islands of ice”:
Ibid., 92.

18
“Some of the older passengers”:
Willard,
Journal and Letters, from France and Great Britain
, 11.