Happy New Year, Old Spirituals friends!
I apologize for my unusual silence. I managed to get quite sick over the holidays but I’m feeling better every day. Tremendous thank you to Nicola di Crescenzo (our Jax Saggezza) for keeping the wonderful posts coming!
Today I have for you a picture of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, one of my favorite historical rebels. It was taken on New Year’s Day 1909, as she left a reception, probably at the White House. It looks like it though the metadata doesn’t say.
I like how austere she looks. Her head and shoulders are back, and she is gazing forward, seemingly expressionlessly. Dressed to the nines, of course! I wonder what she was thinking in this moment.
LOC
What emotion do you feel, friends, when you look into the future?
old spirituals 
So glad you’re feeling better, Kimberly! Alice Roosevelt seems to be flooded with memories of living in the White House. She’s probably thinking of her father. If only those White House walls could talk!
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Thank you, Judy! Alice made some memories herself at the White House. She got caught on the roof smoking, amongst other hijinx!
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I suspected you were spending the holidays with family, but I also considered you might be sick. Glad you are “up and at ’em” to start the New Year 2026. And, there is not need to thank me for the postings, I enjoy story telling.I view It is a method of passing on history.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth had a storied life. Whenever she opined it made the news. For example, she was attributed to having said during the 1940 Presidential Election, she’d “rather vote for Hitler than vote for Franklin for a third term”. Alice publicly said, that she and Franklin only had their last name in common. I wonder what she would say today in response to anyone critical of her for wearing real animal fur?
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Thank you, Nicola. I bet Alice would let any naysayers have it! I have an old book about her somewhere and I remember her saying that her branch of the family were considered to be the real Roosevelts whereas Franklin’s were upstarts. She said something like: “We had the hubris. Had it up to the eyebrows!”
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My thought is Alice would say something like: “If the UK’s Royal Guard can wear real black bear fur hats guarding the King at Buckingham Palace, I can wear real fur when I visit the the President at the White House.”
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the emotion i feel is cautious optimism
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