21 June Saturday Early this morning Mrs. Seba Howard
brought Orinthia up and found me in the
garden weeding. We worked there an hour or two
and then went to sewing. Orinthia on her dress
and I on the hair cloth. Harriet came and sat
with us awhile in the afternoon and while she
was in I worked on the sleeves to my plaid stone
colour borage Orinthia called on Abby Pleasant
Weeding continued to be the dominant occupation of Evelina’s early morning hours. On this Saturday morning her young friend, Orinthia Foss, arrived for the day and immediately stepped to the garden to help weed. Orinthia was carried up from the southern part of town by a contemporary of Evelina named Eleutheria Howard, wife of Major Seba Howard.
Today was summer solstice, the official start of summer and the high water mark of daylight; the women probably would have enjoyed being outside in the garden all day long, but sewing and other duties called. Each woman had a dress she was working on, and Evelina was still piecing together a horsehair cover for her new lounge. Just as they had sat on so many days during the late winter, so the two sat today, on chairs near the windows for light, with folds of cloth in their laps. Harriett Ames Mitchell, Evelina’s sister-in-law, joined them in the afternoon.
Later in the day Orinthia went to call on Abby Torrey, Evelina’s niece who lived right in the village of North Easton.
evelinaames 