362
PARTISAN REVIEW
"May you live to be a hundred!"
Ruth remarked that she had no doubt the well-wisher had the
best intentions in the world, but perhaps it would not be the most
pleasant thing to live to be one hundred years of age. However she
spoke of her joy in the party and her pleasure that all of them were
here. Then all began to present the gifts they had brought for Ruth,
and their handsomeness and their expensiveness were such as to make
Ruth say, charming, flustered, and astonished: "0, for me? for me?"
as if the gifts were too good for her.
Rebecca and Sarah were the last to give their gifts to Ruth.
When they did, Sarah asked:
"Who has the worst children in the world?"
"I have the best children in the world," said Ruth graciously.
And then a friend of the family who had known Ruth when her
first child was born made a short speech in which she said that of all
the human beings she had known, and she had known many, Ruth
was the kindest, the most generous, the most devoted, the least selfish.
Hearing this, Sarah remarked to the lady next to her:
"She can live for six months on a compliment! She thinks about
it all day long for six months and forgets to eat."
"That has never stopped her from doing what she thought she
ought to do," the friend replied.
Sarah, so long critical of her mother, blaming her for her mar–
riage and for Seymour's character, was nonetheless pleased as well
as perplexed by the occasion. She knew that there were not many
human beings who would be honored with so much sincerity and
conviction.
As
the party foods were eaten, there were many stories of what
had occurred through the years and much laughter, although, in
fact, there was little reason for laughter about the events which were
recounted.
When the party was almost over and some had departed and
most still sat at the dinner table, but no longer ate, partaking of a last
·cup of tea, Seymour entered hurriedly. He was very embarrassed
to see all these people whom he always avoided, and embarrassed
most of all by the bouquet of American Beauty roses he had brought
for his mother. He gave her the bouquet, kissed her cheek self-con–
sciously, and then departed.
"I have to meet someone at nine o'clock," he said.
"There is a good side to his character," said Ruth, when he had
left. "He is not everything that he should be, but he takes care of his
