March 6th Thursday. This morning Orinthia cleaned the sitting room
and I sat down to work quite Early on Mr Ames shirt
and finished it about ten Oclock I then went to
mending some old shirts & colars &c Sarah Witherell
brought me the fourth bosom that she has stiched for
me. Jane went to Mrs Willis to get her dress Miss Foss
and myself called to see Mr Guild about the school & on
Ellen Howard A[u]gustus here to dine Morning pleasant storm at night
More men’s shirts. If we’re getting tired of reading about them, imagine how tired Evelina must have been sewing them – and she had many more to go. She evidently had a method to her sewing, in that she worked on the same kind of clothing in succession until she had finished. She didn’t make just one shirt for her boys or husband, she made several in a row. She didn’t just make one apron for her daughter, she made three or four in a row. Perhaps the cutting of the fabric and the arrangement of the pattern components were made easier when addressed as multiples. The economy of cloth-cutting trumped the tedium of repetition.
Leaving the shirt bosoms and collars behind, Evelina went out with Orinthia Foss in the afternoon. They paid a call on a Mr. Guild on a school-related matter, showing that Evelina continued to be involved with some aspect of the private school. It was unusual for a married woman to be so active in this way.
Their second call was on Ellen Howard, daughter of Nancy (Johnson) Howard and Elijah Howard. Mr. Howard was a sometime business partner of the Ames men and a prominent citizen of Easton. Mrs. Howard was his third wife, he having buried his first two. He had twelve children, of whom seven were with Nancy; Ellen was in the latter group. In 1851, Ellen was seventeen, the same age as Frank Morton Ames, and she often socialized with the Ames sons. In introducing Orinthia to Ellen, Evelina was perhaps hoping the two young women might become friends. In the future, Orinthia would board with the Howards. In Ellen’s future, in 1860, she would marry George Withington, a young minister who came to town to replace the departed William Whitwell.
The fine weather that allowed Evelina and Orinthia to travel around town disappeared by evening and ushered in a storm. Such variability was to be expected this time of year. It was March, after all.
evelinaames 