i think the first official mother's day was in 1914

On Sunday, because it is Mother's Day, nine of the ten Godwin children sit down for lunch in the larger dining room. Lucas has brought Nathaniel down from the convalescent home, and Marcus has consented to appear in his father's house, and Matthew would have brought Alianor but she is spending the day with her aunt, because she cannot spend it with her own mother and because her aunt has children too. Gabriel will not travel from Chicago for such a new holiday, and besides, he says, Mr Godwin's current wife is not his mother.

(Con tried to make this point as well, but Julia reminded him that Mr Godwin's current wife isn't Nathaniel and Lucas' mother either, and they are both coming without complaint. "Even Marcus will be here," she said, "so you be quiet and be nice." He looked taken aback but has been almost a model son so far.)

( So there are seven Godwin boys in good suits and ties )

words: 1515
total words: 8615
today's quickie research: the boston police strike of 1919, shell shock

james makes some friends!

On Monday James can resist no longer and has to share his Saturday adventure with some of the boys in his class. He is pretty sure that his retelling of The Millionaire Pirate is not quite accurate, but he doesn’t think any of his schoolfriends will be going to see it, so it does not matter. He asks Mr Van der Waal to teach them about Jean Lafitte, but the answer he gets is “Perhaps later”.

One of the boys in James’ class has a brother who is in William’s class, so the story travels from James to the boy to his brother to William to Luisa and then to Mrs Godwin. By the time she hears the story, it is a mangled version of the actual events, but there is enough truth there for her to sit Julia and James down and have a talk with them about lying to Luisa.

( It was my fault, Julia says. )

words: 1938
total words: 10,551
quickie research: none for this bit