104 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine House of the Month from top: jill krementz from The writer’s image; courtesy downeast properties Charlotte’s Web,” Mary says. “I tell them, ‘I’m so glad you love Charlotte’s Web. I hope when you grow up, you will read some of his other works.’ I’m always disappointed when that’s the only story they’re interested in, because E.B. White was so much more than that. On the other hand, don’t under- sell it. Harry Potter is a good analogy, and it encourages reading. “Someone told me the other day there are generations of little girls who’ve become vegetarians because of Charlotte’s Web. In particular they refuse to eat…bacon!” Divine Guidance Sensitivetotheshynessofthedead,White familymemberscontinuetoinvoketheirfa- mousrelative’sdreadofpersonalexposure. EverintheNewYorker,RogerAngellhasin recentyearsletsliptherevelationofhisstepfa- ther’s“evenpassingupaninvitationin1963to gotoWashingtonandreceivethePresidential MedalofFreedomfromLyndonJohnson;the deedwasconsummatedinsteadbyastand-in, Maine’sSenatorEdmundMuskie,intheoffice ofthepresidentofColbyCollege.‘Andy’also skippedhiswife’sprivateburialintheBrook- linCemetery,inJuly,1977.Noneofusinthe familyexpectedotherwiseorheldthisagainst him.Andwhenhisownmemorialcame,eight yearslater,Itookthechancetoremark,“If AndyWhitecouldbewithustodayhewould notbewithustoday.” Which gives rise to the question, at what point does a lust for privacy become a narcissistic act in a public figure? When I call Roger Angell on the phone at his 1261 Madison Avenue digs in Manhattan, he replies, “I don’t want to talk about E.B. White’s house in Maine. I’m sorry.” [Click.] Well, now I have a Roger Angell story! If nothing else, it’s a masterwork of brev- ity. Which is something his stepfather, E. B. White, who edited The Elements of Style, might admire. Still to the notion of privacy once re- moved, when we contact E. B. White’s liter- ary executrix Martha White, Joel White’s daughter, she writes: “W hat I would offer by way of comment on the sale of the former E.B. White prop- erty is that the Gallants have been very good stewards for three decades and we are assured that they are seeking equal- ly good owners to see that the 1700s house and property will remain under good care. My grandfather expressly did not want the place to ever become a museum or com- mercial entity bearing his name, or a place of pilgrimages, but rather to continue as a private property and, in the best of all pos- sible scenarios, as a viable privately owned farm. That is what we hope, as well. Any- one who knew or has read E.B. White knows that he did not believe that writers should have to be public celebrities. We en- courage his many fans, instead, to find him in his books, or canoe the lakes that he loved, or sail Penobscot Bay or other coast- al waters, or ride a train, or write a Letter to the Editor.” Let’s Go Inside Real estate exec Martha Dischinger of Downeast Properties is thoughtfully aware of this home’s elements of style, and she knows how to guide us through with sen- sitivity and charm. There’s a “living room with a fireplace, dining room with a beam ceiling and fireplace, a kitchen renovated in the taste of the period. There’s a full bath on the first floor,” along with “a large enclosed and winterized porch with beautiful views of Harriman Point, which is now owned by Blue Hill Heritage Trust and will never be developed. The mountains of Acadia can be seen from the house and property. There are two first-floor rooms with fireplac- es serving as offices for Mr. and Mrs. Gal- lant. There’s a ‘woodshed’ leading from the kitchen to the Barn, which is a lovely sitting room with doors on both ends to enjoy the sea breezes off the fields. Upstairs includes 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and two addition- al fireplaces.” The estate includes “a guest house that contains a large second-floor bedroom and a kitchen and bath.” Entry is through “one of the gardens. There’s a brick terrace off the sun room as well. The prop- erty contains three ponds and a lovely drive or walk to the shore where the small house/ cabin sits in its original condition where E.B. White would sit and do his writing with his small writing table still in place.” Whenever he wrote in his little ocean shack, White had a farmhand carry his clunky Underwood typewriter out to the water, then back to his study in the main house when he was finished. Once he was asked why he did this. Like a true Mainer, he knew how to answer: Otherwise, he’d have had to buy two typewriters. In the main house, “[my grand- father and grandmother] each had a downstairs office to either side of the front door of the house, separated by the front hallway and stairs,” Martha White says. “The telephone lived in a dark closet off Katharine’s office and was rarely used. [My grandfather’s] of- fice had nautical charts for wallpaper, L ately I have been missing my step- father, Andy White, who keeps ex- cusing himself while he steps out of the room to get something from his study or heads out the back kitchen door, on his way to the barn again. He’ll be right back. I can hear the sound of that gray door—the steps there lead down into the fragrant connecting woodshed—as the lift-latch clicks shut… “In my mind, this is at his place in North Brooklin, Maine, and he’s almost still around. I see his plaid button-down shirt and tweed jacket, and his good evening moccasins. One hand is holding a cigarette tentatively—he’ll smoke it halfway down and then stub it out— and he turns in his chair to put his Martini back on the Swedish side table to his right. It must be about dinnertime. What were we talking about, just now?” –White’s stepson Roger Angell in “Andy,” The New Yorker Missing You