Annie

As I go through old photos during this stretch of gray and drizzly days (yes, we had a lovely time at Christmas, better than most in recent memory, maybe because it involved an 8-year-old some of the time, maybe because A. came to stay for a few days), I see again the photos of Annie Payson Call, who was a friend of the family to my mother's mother, Mildred Kimball Bonney. Uncle Paul, my mother's older brother, was apparently a scholarship student at the Mt. Prospect School for Boys, where she taught or was somehow connected with the principal. (He was her special friend??) As far as I know, Annie never married or had children, but I could be wrong. 

There are photos of Paul with other boys sledding and skiing and photos of Annie with him and other family members. I was curious and googled her and found some interesting stuff. She taught for about 30 years at a girls' school. She taught them how to take care of their nerves. This is not something we hear about nowadays, that women especially need to protect themselves against nervous breakdowns. The classes involved exercises, breathing, and self-hypnosis. She made the front page when two students had nervous breakdowns and it was argued that these classes had contributed to weakening their nervous systems. I think of it as sort of a precursor to yoga...but I wonder if women needed to learn self-care because they were not well treated by society? 

I don't think this is Grammie Bonney, with Paul, Norma and Eleanor.