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CONSUELO POLLARD [later Wade] : 1908 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A WILD AND WANTON MEMPHIS TEENAGER WHO SURELY GAVE HER MOTHER GRAY HAIR AND ALL THE BOYS A BROKEN HEART

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is a super, original 1908 manuscript diary handwritten by the extremely popular and very wild Consuelo Pollard, a 17 year old girl who lived in Memphis Tennessee with her parents and older brother Thomas. [Census info mentions brothers Edwin and William too.] No shrinking violet, she writes that she was very, very popular, swamped with admirers and many proposals. Mrs. Pollard had a hard time keeping her teenager in line and was not a happy parent. Here are some snippets: "I ought not put this in this book, but can't help it. Mamma got mad at me (indeed it is nothing new) and raised the ___. Wish I was dead or away off somewhere. She always picks on me anyway. I certainly wish I was a boy. Not that I want her to care for me but so as I could get out and do what I wanted to and would try and never be near so as I would be in the way. It certainly is awful to get the ___ if you do it and if you don't do it. Thurs 12 Stayed at Bonds all day, had a good time. Went home to Marias and Judge blessed her out. Then she stayed all night at our house. Dana and I played Tom and Maria at Five Hundred. Fri 13Will came down. Walked home with Maria just as Judge was leaving. We hid behind a tree and let him go. Then raked up everything cooked, took magazines, "Home Runs", and went to the woods and had a picnic for two.' Her steady boyfriend Leslie was away often and she didn't hesitate to take advantage by going out with other boys but Leslie was not happy with that: 'Leslie came in the evening and Maria also was here. He and I started out driving and old Maria pressed in with us so we came home. Leslie and I had an awful fuss that night, asked me to marry him and run off that night. I wouldn't do it so he got mad. I came in and told mamma everything he said. I certainly was blue and didn't sleep a wink that night.' On a much more frightening note, her family is devastated by a house fire: 'Retired and about 4 oclock in the morning, our house caught on fire. Kate jumped out the back window with her merry widow - had not another thing, the cop broke the front window and woke me up.' More trouble comes to the family later in the year: a shooting incident involving the man next door, her brother and a black man: 'While he was here there was a shot and I didn't notice it very much. Five minutes later one next door and it was the carpenter shooting at a negro who was stealing lumber five minutes later I heard something and Tom got the pistol and shot at a man.' Tucked in ephemera adds more depth to the 82 page 7" x 4 1/2" diary which overall is G+.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

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