Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash

every day to prevent its shortening. He had begun to take laudanum and morphine and to drink ever more heavily to kill the excruciating pain in his foot.When his behavior became hostile even to those he loved most and he threatened suicide, the doctors prescribed a complete rest, and at the end of December, 1889, he embarked on a trip to the South—without saying good-by to his wife and children. His wife desperately tried to reach him through his love for the children. “Eleanor came rushing down when she heard the postman to know if there was a letter from you and what you said. I told her you would not be here for two weeks and she seemed awfully disappointed, but was quite satisfied when I told her you were getting well.”
    Eleanor’s whole life was spent waiting for her father. “Eleanor lunched with us yesterday,” wrote Tissie; “she rushed to the stairs every time the bell rang to see if it was her Papa. I shall be so glad to see my dear Father, she kept saying. She certainly adores you.”

4.THE CRACK-UP
    T HE SOUTHERN CURE DID NOT WORK. E LLIOTT ’ S DRUNKEN SPREES became more violent and dissipated. In 1890, in a final desperate effort to hold the family together, they decided to lease their houses in town and Hempstead, sell their horses, and go abroad for a tour of mountain resorts and watering places. Anna declined the Gracies’ offer to leave the children with them, and Eleanor, almost six, and baby Elliott accompanied their parents on a restless, troubled journey that ended in disaster.
    They went directly to Berlin, and Anna’s first extended report to Bamie was bright and hopeful. Count Bismarck got them “splendid places” for the parade of the garrison. Count Sierstorff took them to see the cavalry drill. And the only moment of danger came when Buffalo Bill, who was also in Berlin, offered Elliott whiskey to drink to his health. Sierstorff was wonderful, Anna reported, took the glass out of Elliott’s hand, and told Buffalo Bill it was against doctor’s orders.
    From Berlin they proceeded to Reichenhall, in Bavaria, where the Germans were “all of a class that no one would think of meeting,” Anna wrote. But Elliott took the baths and drank the waters and except for “awful attacks of depression” was sleeping well and his foot had stopped hurting.
    â€œElliott is really studying German now,” she added, “and I hope he will take some interest in it. Eleanor is beginning to speak a little but teaching her to read is hopeless. She is as good as gold.”
    After a month in Reichenhall they went on to Munich and then to Oberammergau for the Passion play before heading for Vienna and Italy. Their expenses, lamented Anna, seemed enormous. “I don’t know how it is, but we don’t seem to be able to travel under $1,500 a month,” even though they were not buying things. On the way to Vienna they stopped to visit the estate of Count Arco, and that was a disaster. “Elliott was an angel up to Wednesday night. Then I think he drank champagne for dinner, though he denies it.” Anna was ill and had to stay in bed, but she tried to accompany Elliott everywhere, “excepting when they were shooting.” Elliott, however, finally eluded her, and she found him drinking brandy and water. “I was furious and said so. It affected him at once. . . . I am sure it is the first alcohol he has touched in two months.”
    That fall they moved south to Italy. From Venice, at the end of October. Elliott wrote “Dear Anna’s Mother” that though they had “done so much and worked so hard over our amusements . . . the children and Anna are both very well.” Lots of sightseeing and visiting but
    her great delight of course; as mine; is in Baby “Joss.” He gets stronger and fatter and rosier every day. I am afraid he is a son of his father, though, for he is not at all a “good