1851
June 4th Wednesday This morning Mr Lothrop
brought me a calf head and as Jane was Ironing it has
taken me some time to prepare it Went in to Olivers
to assist Sarah about making her cake for the sewing
Circle. It met there this afternoon and they had a
goodly number I have cut two shirts
for Mr Ames and put them into the sewing circle to
make We have had a pleasant meeting
Even as cows all around town and country were giving birth, some of their calves were slated for slaughter. In sheer numerical, if unfortunate, terms, not all calves had a place on a farm. Females, once grown, could breed and produce milk, but the males had less of a role, unless they had the lines and build to become fine steers or oxen. Male calves in particular had good market value as veal and thus were often culled. The arrival of a calf’s head for the dinner table signaled that some culling was going on. Mr. Lothrop may have been DeWitt “Clinton” Lothrop, a farming brother of Sarah Lothrop Ames and manager of the Lothrop property.
The cook rooms at both houses on Main Street were bustling today. Not only was Evelina preparing the calf’s head, but Jane McHanna was ironing near the stove, keeping her irons hot and using the kitchen table as the ironing surface. In Sarah Lothrop Ames’s kitchen, there was much preparation for the afternoon meeting of the Sewing Circle. Evelina went next door to help Sarah with a cake.
No memory of her own failed meeting back in February seemed to cloud Evelina’s enjoyment of today’s Sewing Circle, even when her sister-in-law’s parlor welcomed “a goodly number.” She was able to put a couple of shirts into the pile of work and had a pleasant time.
evelinaames 