July 22, 1851

Tuesday 22 July  Can scarcely tell what I have been about to

day, do not feel very well & it is one of my lazy

days  I wish I could have one of my smart 

spells but it [is] so long since I have had one I

fear I shall never have another

Evelina Ames didn’t have a very good day.  She was, apparently, suffering from some disagreeable lethargy, whose origin is tough to pinpoint.  She hadn’t been sick or overtired (that she mentioned, at any rate), but something had occasioned a dull day in her mind. Perhaps the weather was insufferable, or she was under the influence of “change of life,” or she hadn’t been sleeping well. Perhaps all of the above.

Her handwriting today is no different from other entries in her diary.  In fact, it’s quite typical. Evelina wrote neatly, without flourish and with a uniform slant to the right.  Her punctuation, as usual, was variable and informal. The only abnormal feature of the entry today is that she underlined part of the last sentence.  She put more energy into that underlining than she put into the wording of the entry.  She was cross.