Title: Charles Finger’s Family and the Pratt Sisters - Part 2

As mentioned in Part 1, Joy Pratt Markham and Evangeline Pratt Waterman were friends with Charles Finger, his wife Eleanor (Nellie), and daughter Helen. Let's continue looking at their connections and take a closer look at Charles Finger.

D. Literary Discussions at Gayeta

Charles Finger entertained literary and artistic guests at his home and was a mentor to younger literary and intellectual aspirants from Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas. Evangeline and Julian Waterman were among those who met weekly at the Gayeta Lodge to discuss literature.

E. University of Arkansas School of Law

Julian S. Waterman founded the University of Arkansas (UA) School of Law in 1924 and was its first dean. Evangeline Pratt married Julian in 1927. Robert A. Leflar also joined the UA School of Law staff as an instructor in 1927. When Julian suddenly died in 1943, Robert replaced him as the next dean of the law school. Helen Finger married Robert in 1946.

F. From two articles about the Fingers

Fayetteville Democrat, July 19, 1921
“ “The Guide,” the mid-west monthly published at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in its July number carries a story in its Travelogue department entitled “Alluring Arkansas” written by Margaret Reynolds, whom Fayetteville remembers as a charming guest this past season at the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Hancock.
In her snapshot of Fayetteville, which carries a photograph of Charles J. Finger of this place, Miss Reynolds says in part:
‘To one interested in literature and the modern experimental periodical, Fayetteville offers a tremendous surprise, for here on the outskirts of the town at Gayeta Lodge, lives Mr. Charles J. Finger, a former Ohio business man, editor and publisher of All’s Well. Instead of merely showing you a photograph of Mr. Finger I wish that you might have the joy of meeting him.’
‘He is the father of a family of five children. For the sake of his children he moved to Arkansas and bought a farm, giving up his business career in Ohio. There could be nothing more delightful than spending an evening at Gayeta Lodge. Even a brief conversation with Mrs. Finger or any of the children reveals the fact that here is a family which is growing up familiar with the best writers. Picture a home where a young university professor, Murray Sheehan, and the father of the family spend Saturday afternoons and Sundays reading aloud to the children. They finished David Copperfield last Sunday. Picture the enormous living room, the walls of which are practically covered with bookcases reaching to the ceiling.’
‘If the first impression made upon the host is a favorable one, he begins at once to show you his treasures. There is the charming limited edition of “The Door in the Wall,” by H. G. Wells. Book after book is shown you that is interesting and unusual.’
‘Next a portfolio of original drawings by Chamberlain is shown you and so the evening goes. Interspersed with the stories such as one seldom hears. There are experiences of Mr. Finger in South America or England or elsewhere.’
‘Mr. Finger himself told me a good story about Carl Sandburg. Sandburg was down at the University talking to students. Afterwards, in company with Murray Sheehan, whose name you ought to remember, he walked out to Gayeta Lodge. They sat at the large table in the Finger living room and talked till the wee small hours of the morning. Sandburg did not care much about sleep when he could be in such good company. All he wanted was to get back to Fayetteville in time to get an early train towards home. On the way back, Murray Sheehan, who has walked back and forth from Gayeta Lodge hundreds of times, became so engrossed in talking to Sandburg that the strollers lost their way. Suddenly they discovered that they were in the cemetery. If Sandburg writes a popular poem about his walk in the cemetery in the early morning, you will know that scene is laid in Fayetteville.’ “

Northwest Arkansas Times, Feb 8, 1944
From the ‘Round About Town by Lessie Stringfellow Read’ section of the newspaper:
“Concerning the Fingers. [Widower] Charles J. Finger, Jr. [son of Charles and Nellie Finger], of the United States Geological Survey has been promoted to state inspector for Arkansas with headquarters in Little Rock and has been transferred from his recent division headquarters at Harrison. His little daughter will return to Gayeta Lodge to reside with her grandmother and her aunt, Helen Finger, illustrator. Miss Finger is returning to her art work and is kept busy with illustrations for books and magazines. She is resuming work at her own studio at Gayeta where a “kindergarten” is also being fixed up for the little niece. Miss Finger was disappointed not to be present recently at the launching of the Charles J. Finger, United States naval ship just named for the Fayetteville author, whose book, “Our Navy” is considered one of the most valuable contributions not only to American literature, but to authentic data on all things having to do with history of America’s ships.”

G. From Charles Finger’s book Ozark Fantasia

From pages 97-98:
“My daughter, a slim, dancing creature of nine who believes in fairies and gnomes as heartily as I believe in microbes, has found a flower, blue and of feather-like delicacy, and I do not think that I understand the rapture with which she regards it. ‘You don’t see all of it,’ she says to me when I expressed some modified admiration. Her words ring in my ears and I believe that she is right. I see less of it than she does for her life is in some fine way, richer than mine. The azure sky is not the same to me as it is to her and I cannot discover new worlds as she does. But that is because in the pilgrimage of life I have lost something, and hers is the greater perfection of soul and of body. She is nearer to things that are splendid, sees beauties that escape me and the shadow of sadness that is on the world for me, she knows nothing of. True, for a moment, a brief moment, I may become absorbed in the beauty of a thing and so indifferent to all else, but with her the strange rapture is more lasting and it is clear that the things she loves, become a part of her.”

From pages 262-263:
“As to October in Arkansas, a word. We have not yet had our first frost, so the orchard is rich and red; the sheep are lazy fat under the trees, spending their days munching wind-fall apples. Just now a hawk seems to watch them. Very beautiful is the valley with its yellowing corn, its bright green grass, the brightness enhanced by the rich wooded hills.”
“An hour ago, Helen came running to my forest office gate, crying: ‘Oh! Look how pretty these are.’ She held up a mass of branches, brilliantly yellow and scarlet and green. It would have made a picture for a painter. For she herself was dressed in brief green tunic, with feathered hat and long hose. In her left hand she carried a bow and a few arrows. For she and Ann and Herbert were Robin Hood and his men, so had dressed for the part. I, it appeared, was Friar Tuck; my quiet dogs his fierce bloodhounds; the office a hermit’s cell in which I pray.”

(All photos were found online.)

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