The Red Tiffany Lamp

The college scholarships Faye had hoped to earn for college, were now a forgotten dream. Her family had moved at the end of her junior year in high school to Prairie Valley from Prague. No one at Prairie Valley High School had known her long enough to see her many talents. In spite of a flawless academic record she hadn’t even graduated with honors. Nothing could deter her from the goal however. Dressed in the brown tweed suit her mother had made, with her mother’s nicest brown leather handbag, Faye watched as her dad slung the battered old leather suitcase into the back of the truck. Then waving to her teary eyed mom, they took off down the road to meet the bus to Ada and East Central College. She would have gone all the way to Norman to the University of Oklahoma had she a little more money.

Faye had carefully counted her graduation money putting back enough for her tuition. With the rest she could buy her bus fare, eat one meal, and stay one night in a boarding house—unless she found a job that included room and board—in that case she could eat dinner too. Registering for college, finding a job and place to stay was going to be a big order for only one day.

The bus ride to East Central College in Ada, Oklahoma was hot and dusty. Upon arrival she found the registrar’s office and ran for her classes—registration consisted of getting a “Ticket” for each class she wanted to take, finding the table of that class, seeing if it had any open places and signing for it. It could be a long process since a class you needed might be at the same time as another class for which you had already given a ticket. Seldom did a freshman register and get all the classes he or she wanted. This however was summer school and it proved to be quicker and without all the frustrations of fall freshman registration.

Faye stopped by the Student Union building for lunch, but instead saw a sign telling where applications were being taken to work on campus. This was especially exciting since campus jobs usually included room and board. She got to the counter to find that they had stopped taking applications for the summer but she could fill one out for the fall. Disappointed, but still encouraged, since this would mean her fall employment was almost assured.

By now it was after 3 PM and Faye still had to find a job and place to live. Since she had not eaten, she still had her lunch money and one night’s room in her purse. As she walked toward the boarding house she had seen earlier in the day, she saw a sign posted in a yard on Silk Stocking Row (where all the large houses were), “Caregiver Needed, Room and Board”. The house was beautiful and neatly manicured.

Up the long walk she went, and knocked on the door. A man possibly in his early 40s answered the door. He introduced himself to her, invited her in, and began to tell her about the job. “You will be the sole caregiver for, my mother, the elderly Mrs. Lee. She is in extremely poor health and needs help with all of her daily activities. She is quite precise in her needs and a bit on the unpleasant side. You will be needed to aid her at all times with time off only on Sunday and during your class time.” Faye didn’t even think. She told him she would take the job. She was tired of lugging that heavy old suitcase and finally she could take off her shoes and relax. Mr. Lee let out a big sigh. “Shall I show you to your room?” She nodded.

They walked through the elegant old house, through the extraordinary garden, to the back of the garage to a servant’s room. It was clean and nicely appointed. She put down her suitcase and began to relax when Mr. Lee turned and said, “Take 15 minutes or so and meet me in the parlor, I will show you what needs to be done tonight. And where you can prepare my mother’s dinner”. It was just the beginning of a summer of very long days.

Faye’s summer was indeed very long—and the long days continued into the fall. The campus job did not materialize for the fall but rather for January. Faye was just glad she had a job, even if it was an unpleasant one. Mrs. Lee didn’t like Faye anymore than Faye liked her. They did have a good working relationship, but Faye’s only study time was when the unpleasant old woman would go to bed in the evening. Sometimes Faye felt that Mrs. Lee stayed up as late as she could just to spite her, holding her glass of milk and nodding, awakening just before she would drop the glass.

Walking back to the house after class on a Wednesday, Faye noticed at a distance, a sign in the yard of the old woman's house. “Caregiver Needed, Room and Board.” Shocked she ran into the house to find Mr. Lee sitting quietly in the parlor. “I am sorry to alarm you like this. I know of your integrity and hard work. I trust you inexplicably with my mother, but she insists that you have stolen something from her. She can’t remember what it was but she thinks something is missing. I cannot reason with her on these things. I will have to let you go.” Biting her lip to keep from saying something she might regret, she thanked him and headed out to her room. Her head was spinning, where would she stay tonight? She had money, but it was what she had saved for spring tuition. As she packed her things, there was a knock at the open door.

Turning around there was Mr. Lee standing with a large box. “I have seen you admire this red Tiffany lamp. I feel so badly for letting you go, but my mother—she is so unreasonable—she imagines these things. I want you to have the lamp-perhaps you can sell it and have enough money to finish the semester.” She looked at him in disbelief. “He is throwing me out in the street with my suitcase, no place to go, and he is giving me a stupid lamp???” He saw the frustration on her face. “I will have it sent to where you will be staying.” She continued to pack—“I will be at Mary’s at least for the next few days. I hope, she thought. Mary would be surprised!  "Here is the address—you may send it there,” she said as she scribbled down the address.

She walked the 3 blocks to the boarding house where Mary lived. Graciously the land lady said Faye could stay with Mary provided she pay per week as Mary, which she did. The red Tiffany lamp was delivered and although the room was small and cluttered with all the earthly belongings of two college girls, there on the bureau sat a most elegant Tiffany lamp. As the word spread about what had happened to Faye’s job, the professors in the Home Economics department kept her busy with baby sitting jobs for the rest of the semester. She decided not to sell the lamp until she absolutely had to.

Photographs of Faye and Bill Greenlee beside the "Tiffany" lamp.

NOTE: The lamp remained in Faye Emerson Greenlee and Bill Greenlee’s house for the remainder of her 86 years of life, passing it down to her daughter Jan Greenlee Hayes, who later passed it down to Faye’s granddaughter Erin Emerson Hayes Burt. It was rumored Mrs. Lee was the niece of the Civil War general, Robert E. Lee. There was no proof however, only the word of Mrs. Lee and her son. Although Mr. Lee said that lamp was a Tiffany lamp, there was no identifying mark as proof of it being a Tiffany.

From TALES MY MOTHER TOLD ME, by Jan Greenlee Hayes