1851
Jan 25 Saturday. Have been sweeping and dusting the house and
have done a little of everything and not much of anything. Have got
the chambers in pretty good order for once in my life. Have
mended Mr Ames coat & vest. Took the time when he was
from home because he has but one suit beside his go to meeting
poor man! Called at Mr Torreys just at night. This eve
have been mending & have had no time to read. Commenced
reading David Copperfield. Mr Ames at Boston. Very warm & fine
Evelina could be critical of others, but she was most critical of herself. Her self-deprecation often took a humorous tone, as in having done “a little of everything and not much of anything.” She really tried to get things organized at home today, tackling perhaps one of her biggest challenges: keeping her husband Oakes in decent clothes.
Family lore would have it that Evelina was miserly, lore that is reinforced by Reverend William Chaffin. Chaffin blamed Evelina for Oakes’ shabby “pantaloons,” believing that Evelina “being economical kept them well mended instead of encouraging him to buy new ones.” Yet Chaffin also acknowledged Oakes’s indifference to outfit, telling us that while on a trip into Boston with a friend, Reuben Meader, Oakes responded to Meader’s suggestion that he should wear better clothes by saying: “Oh, I can wear poor clothes if I want to, but some men can’t.”
Oakes spent money on gifts; he was well-known and well-liked for his charitable instincts. However, unlike his brother, Oliver Jr., who shopped for bespoke outfits in Boston, Oakes didn’t spend a dime on his apparel; he simply didn’t care, so Chaffin was unjustified to blame Oakes’s appearance on Evelina. She tried to keep him mended, and we know that she was willing to spend money on clothes; certainly she kept the dressmakers in Easton occupied. But she must have met resistance if and when she tried to improve her husband’s wardrobe.
Today’s hard work had a reward: opening the pages of David Copperfield, the newest book by Charles Dickens.
evelinaames 
Where did books come from in those days? Were they easy to find?
In 1851, there were 86 booksellers in Boston, mostly along Cornhill Street. More on that later!