Allan Stein Read Online Free PDF Page A

one. However, I was so involved with what I did have, the missing parts of the "normal" went unnoticed, until everyone started asking me about them—which was early, age six or seven, when a virtual forest of adult faces began pestering me with questions about Dad, etc. Had the world turned its immensely caring eyes toward me and asked, sotto voce, "But, little boy, where is your elephant? " I would have burst into tears more sincere than any I have shed about my father. There is so much in this world that does not love a child it never seemed terribly important to single him out.
    Herbert returned. He settled in, casting a disappointed glance at the empty scotch glass. "Where is that boy?" We surveyed the room brusquely, but Tristan was nowhere in sight. "So, what happened while I was gone?"
    "Nothing, really. Tell me more about this Stein nephew."

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    A llan Daniel Stein was born November 7, 1895, in San Francisco, the only child of Michael and sarah Stein. Mike, the older brother of Leo and Gerturude, sold a streetcar business in 1903 and moved with sarah and Allan to Paris. Gerturde and Leo had preceded them. Therese jelenko, Allan's teenage nanny and piano teacher, went with them:
    "Among my parents' most intimate friends at the turn of the century were Michael and Sally Stein. I was a so-called child prodigy but hadn't a good piano. So it was arranged that I practiced on their Steinway every morning. Their little son, Allan, four or five years of age, began to study with me. And a celebrated musician of the time, Oscar Weil, heard him play and was so enthusiastic that he begged to give him harmony and theory lessons and congratulated his parents on choosing 'such a marvelous teacher,' etc. I didn't realize then what a compliment it was, but the Steins made up their minds that when they went to europe they couldn't dream of going without me. Of course I was then all of about fifteen years old, fifteen or sixteen.
    "This was my first trip to Europe. Actually I never expected to be able to get to Europe, certainly not at that age, and there was great excitement. I left with Mike and Sally Stein and their little boy in December 1903, and arrived at Cherbourg and was met by Mr. Stein's younger sister and brother, Leo and Gertrude Stein. No, Gertrude wasn't along; I'm mistaken there. It was just Leo. We actually arrived at Cherbourg about three o'clock in the morning, and I was thrilled and fascinated. I knew no French but was absolutely charmed. Leo took us to the old hotel; oh, dear, I've forgotten the name of it. The Hotel Fayot. It was the famous hotel in the Latin Quarter, facing the Luxembourg Gardens, where the Senators have their lunch; it was celebrated for its great restaurant. And that was an exciting night. I don't think anybody slept a wink.
    "We finally found an apartment on the rue de Fleurus, 1 rue de Fleurus, which was the same street as Leo and Gertrude Stein, who lived at 27 rue de Fleurus. I remember ours was an apartment three flights up. There was no such thing as an elevator, and of course it had no bath. We had to go up the street to Gertrude's. They had a bath and were unique. I think in the whole street perhaps there was only one other bath. And the baths used to come around by cart. Pipes would be hoisted from the street into your apartment, the tin tub having been brought up ahead of time. And you 'bought' a bath, as it were. It was all very primitive and very exciting and very wonderful to me.
    "The Michael Steins moved to the rue Madame, I think it was 58 rue Madame, and part of my duties as an assistant in the household was to take the little boy to school. I'm going back a couple of years. I'm going back a couple of years. He went to a private school a few blocks away. And each morning I would meet Degas, the painter, who lived a block away, and each morning he'd ask how my little boy was. Well, I was only ten years older than Allan, but just the same I never corrected him. I was