F. Scott Fitzgerald's father was a gentleman fallen on hard times, a traveling salesman who liked to wear a cutaway and gray gloves on Sunday. His family may have been living in Buffalo, but they were in training for better: Scott was sent to the kind of dancing classes where the boys held handkerchiefs in their right hands, so as not to soil the backs of the girls' dresses. When Fitzgerald was twelve, his father lost even the salesman job. Later, Fitzgerald recalled feeling "that disaster had come to us," praying "Dear God, don't let us go to the poorhouse." ... FULL STORY »
