Stay by Me, Roses

Archie was faced with the challenge of raising a child according to her own unique principles in the midst of a doubting and critical family. Given Archie's expectations—based on idealized memories of her parents' roles—it probably would have been difficult to arrive at a meeting of the minds with John about his paternal role even in the privacy of a home of their own. In the midst of the James family, it must have been doubly difficult for Archie to create the environment she wanted for David. A hint of the complications involved comes from a niece, Harriet Eaton Whitehead, who recalls that Archie would read Shakespeare to David in his high chair at lunchtime, oblivious to the fact that he was throwing his food on the floor. Perhaps David would have preferred more personalized attention, but Archie was intent on creating a proper sphere, doing her best to surround him with beautiful language.

The scene was set for complications for both Archie and David. David was not only rejected as a James, but he was surrounded by children who were "in" when he was "out," and the judgment continued even though the Eatons soon moved to Massachusetts. David got mixed signals, his mother often favoring a course of action criticized by the rest of the family. His father's tendency to ignore disagreements among the women or handle them with humor probably added to the complications with which Archie had to deal.

Did David know of his adoption? Perhaps not. Marian May Clarke remembers that Archie “wanted everyone to erase from their minds the fact of David's (adoption) and think of him as her own child. ..."