Eleanor belonged to that class of New Yorker whose bloodlines were traced in the manner of racehorses: she was Phipps (sire) out of Deering (dam), by Livingston (sire’s dam) and Porter (dam’s dam).
Born in 1938, during the Depression, to parents who had held on to their money, she was never allowed to buy anything showy or fashionable. It had to be good and it might be costly, but not obviously so to someone outside the walls of New York’s Four Hundred families. She went to Brearley because the women in her father’s family had gone there and because Brearley girls wore shapeless, navy, hand-me-down, Catholic-school uniforms and brown oxfords.
Eleanor’s upbringing had been conducted by a martinet mother and a succession of brisk English nannies who drilled her daily on grammar, hygiene, deportment, and dress. In truth, she wasn’t so much raised up as subjugated, yoked to a set of rules and rituals that rivaled Leviticus for their specificity, rigor, piety, and triviality. On the subject of manners, Mrs. Phipps swore by Emily Post’s diktat that the Chief Virtue of Children was Obedience.
No young human being, any more than a young dog, has the least claim to attractiveness unless it is trained to manners and obedience. The child that whines, interrupts, fusses, fidgets, and does nothing that it is told to do, has not the least power of attraction for any one. . . .
When possible, a child should be taken away the instant it becomes disobedient. It soon learns that it cannot “stay with mother” unless it is well-behaved. This means that it learns self-control in babyhood.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Humanity First
As I listened to Donald J. Trump’s “America First” inaugural speech on NPR, I was struck by a conversation I had had with my Afghan daughter before she departed for a semester in Rome the day before the inauguration.
Our Little Racket
In the waning light of the predinner hour, Mina Dawes sat across the table from Isabel, desperate to keep their conversation aloft. During the silences her gaze wandered out over Isabel’s pool, its surface entirely untroubled beneath the late-afternoon sun.
The Palm Beaches
IT WAS WINTER 2011; I was sitting alone in my home in Connecticut.
The Einstein Legacy Project
ALBERT Einstein was a true genius.
Statue Of Limitations
You can go in now, miss,” the receptionist directed.Emma crossed the waiting room and entered the office. The Chairman of the American Committee motioned Emma to a chair across the desk from him.
Hamptons International Film Festival's Silver Anniversary
LIGHTS! Camera! Action! It’s hard to believe the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is celebrating a quarter century of showcasing great works in film.
Megyn Kelly Settle for More
Rye’s Megyn Kelly, in the Spotlight.
Women Create Their Own Opportunities in New York's Growing Weed Industry
On a recent Thursday evening in downtown Manhattan, nearly 50 women and a few men, ranging from millennials to baby boomers, gathered in a sleek co-working space to talk about weed.
Mah Jong Memory
I remember mah jong through a haze of memory and my mother’s Benson & Hedges cigarette smoke.
The Heirs
Eleanor belonged to that class of New Yorker whose bloodlines were traced in the manner of racehorses: she was Phipps (sire) out of Deering (dam), by Livingston (sire’s dam) and Porter (dam’s dam).
