Review - American Jewish Archives

192 American Jewish Archives
Place of God: Clara noted that "Divine angelic Flora engrossed the
greater part of my attention1'(263).
Clara idolized and idealized her father, who left the family be-
hind in New Orleans to follow the Confederacy to Virginia where he
served as a sutler to the troops, supplying them with clothing and
equipment. His absence was very difficult for his family, especially,
it seems, for Clara because her relationship with her mother was
very strained. In the individual photographic portraits included in
the text, Clara, though not homely, is the least attractive of the sis-
ters. Like a contemporary teenager, she worried excessively about
her looks, constantly comparing herself negatively to her older sister,
Alice, whom she adored. The female members of the family went to
a professional photographer to have portraits made to send their
father. When they received the finished products, Clara was dissat-
isfied with hers, complaining to her mother "that it is not pretty."
Her mother's reply drove a stake through her daughter's heart.
"'Well; said she, 'did you expect to make a pretty picture? DO ugly
people generally'?" Incredibly, Clara shared that awful moment
with Philomen: "Wasn't that cruel?"(zlg). No wonder poor Clara
was overly self-conscious and spent much of her energy in school
or in synagogue admiring those whom she deemed more attractive.
In spite of the obsessive concerns of adolescence, Clara displayed
more equanimity when she discussed the varied social interactions
between the Solomons and their friends. She painted a vivid pic-
ture of the visits back and forth, complete with the elaborate code
of social demands and constraints. These events dominated the
Solomon family's calendar. On one occasion, for example, after vis-
iting her friend, Rebecca Harris and her well-to-do husband, Clara
wrote, "Never in her girlhood fancies did her aspirations reach
higher than her present attainments; and not only with every com-
fort that wealth can bestow, but with a model of a husband"(306).
Later, in the same entry, Clara confessed, "Oh! mentally, ejaculated I,
this is the way to live, and I believe if I went often to aristocratic
houses, I would be unmanageable at home, I would be so dissatis-
fied. Whenever I turned at the table, there was a negro at my elbow
to administer to my every wantU(3o7).
The Solomon family had two domestic female servants - Ellen
Deegan, an Irish woman, and Lucy, an African American. Clara