The House That Jack Built
I recently found a doll house at an estate sale, though I did not buy it. I was tempted – it was handmade, solid wood, nicely proportioned for a child, and stood 4’ tall on a base with two remarkably useful drawers. It was $65, and I debated getting it for my granddaughter. The house was really a shell – not having been “decorated” for play. But my main concern was that my son and DIL likely would have a conniption fit if I schlepped such a large project down to them. They are busy, working parents, and taking on a project of this size is not in their wheelhouse. It would need to be painted, decorated, furnished and most of all, set up somewhere. So, I passed, though obviously I’m still mulling the lost opportunity.
As a child I played with many hand-me-down toys from my much older sisters, including a large wood dollhouse. It was not decorated in any elaborate fashion, and I understood the house had belonged to my paternal aunt. I also thought my grandfather Watts S. Humphrey (1896 – 1968) had made it. Since the name WSH was passed down, the boys alternated nicknames of Jack and Johnny. My grandfather was Jack and my father was Johnny. Jack divorced my grandmother in the late 1940s to marry a British woman. My father’s sister was born to Jack’s second wife. She was older than my sisters, and numerous things were handed down from her for my sisters. I don’t know if my grandfather made the house, but I suspect not as I discovered recently another item I had inadvertently ascribed to him was not his creation.
This small doll dresser similarly was handed down to my sisters and in turn I played with it. Upon recent inspection, I discovered on the bottom, along with many cobwebs, was the name “S. Mese”. So, not made by my grandfather Jack! That little dresser was well loved, and was in my bedroom when I left for college. At some point one of my sisters took it for her NYC apartment, and for many years I was grumpy the dresser was in her possession. How I managed to get it back from her I cannot recall, but I suspect when my daughter was born I requested it. Knowing my aunt reads these blogs, I will have to accept her request for the dresser should she want it for her grandchildren – only fair as I suspect it was hers to begin with!
When my kids were home recently, my 2-year-old granddaughter discovered my daughter’s tall, blue doll house. I had found this one at an estate sale in 1999, and it too was a large, unfinished, wooden shell. I had my baby and two sons with me when we stopped at the sale, and I managed, much like the Grinch, to shove the thing in the trunk of our station wagon.
I spent the next year decorating the house, finding specialty stores for dollhouse stuff – wallpaper, roof shingles, mini flowers, furniture. I had no idea this subculture existed! The house was gifted to my daughter on her second birthday, and was played with for many years. And now, my granddaughter has found it and is mesmerized.
On her last visit, we spent a good while playing and exploring, and only stopped when she grasped the doll sized television, climbed onto the day bed, and announced we would “watch TV”. Her Pops and I were ordered to “sit down on the sofa” next to her, and we happily sat there for 10 minutes giggling and doing absolutely nothing before her father showed up. Of course, he was required to “sit and watch TV” and thus he joined us in our vigil. Then her mom showed up, and we were ordered en masse to sit on the ground – specifically “sit on your bottoms”- so she could read us a book. The doll house was forgotten, and I later straightened it up and closed the doors. It sits awaiting its next foray into childhood.
I love the wonder a young child feels when a whole world is scaled to their small size. There is a subculture of folks who create “dollhouses” as display pieces – much like the impressive Thorne Miniatures at the Art Institute. But those pale in comparison to the ones created with love for a young child. A whole house of love and treasures, open for them to explore. No, Jack did not “make” my childhood doll house, but he is literally the root of my family tree. Without him, my family would not exist. So, in a sense, my family is the house that Jack built. The doll house, however, is a house built by Erica, with a great deal of love.