6. Cape Ann
During the years that followed her going west, Mrs. Bemis spent only one summer there. For several successive seasons she went with her children to Minnetonka in Minnesota; but it was not possible for Mr. Bemis to be with them there more than he was during the winter, because of its distance from Boston, and a happy change came to all when later Mrs. Bemis had gained enough to make it safe for her to spend some months of each year by the sea on Cape Ann, where the family had headquarters for many summers. Twice she went abroad with her children; first during the summer of 1891 and five years later for a year of study and extended travel for her daughters. Marjorie Gregg, who knew her well, recalling her many journeys, says: "Few not loving travel for its own sake could or would have taken so many long journeys. The trips east in the spring and back to Colorado in the autumn became a habit, and she carried them out with precision and determination that did not ignore discomforts; she saw these, felt them and mentioned them, but never feared or regarded them. She planned and packed and made all arrangements without confusion or mistakes; never 'took it out' on other people, but refused help even in late years. It would be impossible to count up the miles travelled, the time spent on Pullman cars, the trunks packed--all not because of
Wanderlust, curiosity, or restlessness, but for love of family--that she and her children might be with their father half of each year and that she might keep close to her sister and nieces, whose relation to 'Aunt Alice' was as close as if the two families had lived in the same town. Later Grandpa and Grandma Bemis journeyed together indefatigably."
When Mr. Bemis laid aside many of the details of his business, they chose Lake Mohonk, New York, for their summer home, and the last seven summers of her life were spent very happily there; so happily, that each year they engaged the same rooms for the following season and said they meant to do this as long as they lived. It became a real home to them. Mr. and Mrs. Smiley, wonderful host and hostess to all, were soon their warm personal friends, and many pleasant acquaintances with guests were renewed each year. Among their most valued friends there was Dr. Faunce, president of Brown University, who conducted the Sunday services year after year. They considered his sermons as among the best and most helpful they ever heard, and after each season thought and talked much of them, always looking forward to the coming of the summer Sundays, their brightest days at Mohonk. Here every condition met their tastes and their needs; the great beauty of the place itself, the quiet and peace of the house, the wise and unusual way in which it is ordered, all combined to give them an ideal residence for the summer. The fact that young people of a fine type were always there added much to Mrs. Bemis's pleasure. She enjoyed watching their sports and their life in the open. Her windows overlooked the lake, and she sat there hour after hour watching the parties coming and going in boats and climbing the hills. Her delight in the beauties of the whole picture before her, than which there are few to compare with it the world over, grew steadily with each day there. Just before leaving Mohonk for the last time, she wrote to a young cousin: "I wish I could transport you all here. I have always said that I would like to live on a beautiful estate and have no care of it; and here I have been for seven summers and no place by any possibility could be finer. Mr. Smiley did not spoil nature but kept its wonderful beauty and added to it."