Grandmother Boak's room is best described in the short stories "Old Mrs. Harris," and "The Best Years." Here, visitors see Cather's grandmother's shoes, sewing table, and rocking chair. This room contains the second heat source of the home, and would have been a delighftul gathering place for the children to be read to and to read from during cold Nebraska winters. To the north of Grandmother Boak's room is the children's bedroom and the back porch which was enclosed some time during the years and we have left it that way for security purposes.
"Grandmother's room, between the kitchen and the dining room, was rather like a passage-way; but now that the children were upstairs and Victoria was off enjoying herself somewhere, Mrs. Harris could be sure of enough privacy to undress. She took off the calico cover from her lounge bed and folded it up, put on her nightgown and white nightcap." -- "Old Mrs. Harris"
"She left nothing lying about. As soon as she was dressed, she made her bed, folding her nightcap under the pillow, the sweater under the mattress. She smoothed the heavy quilts, and drew the red calico spread neatly over all. Her towel was hung on its special nail behind the curtain. Her soap she kept in a tin tobacco box; the children's soap was in a crockery saucer. If her soap or towel got mixed up with the children's, Victoria was always sharp about it. The little rented house was much too small for the family, and Mrs. Harris and her "things" were almost required to be invisible." -- "Old Mrs. Harris"
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