Friday August 1st Feel very lazy as usual after a jaunt of
shopping Have done but very little of any
thing and am too lazy to write and may as
well give it up
Tired after her “jaunt” into town, Evelina was “too lazy” to write an entry in her diary. She often felt that way after a day or two in the city. Considering the distance she had traveled in a rustic conveyance that hadn’t been designed for comfort, behind a horse that jogged along too fast for sightseeing, her fatigue was understandable.
While Evelina had been shopping and sightseeing in Boston, folks back in Easton had been engrossed in one of the most important chores of the year: Haying. Only two days earlier, Old Oliver had noted in his journal: “this was a cloudy day most of the time + pritty cold for the time of year. we had a good deal of hay laying in swath for 2 days past – we opend it + dryed it a little + cockt it up”.
For days to come, haying would be the focus of most of the householders in Easton. “[Yesterday] was fair in the morning but it clouded up by ten O clock. and there was hardly any sun shine afterwards wind easterly + cold we have 4 or 5 ton of hay out now + 2 ton in the barn to go out again” Before the haying season had ended, Old Oliver and his workmen would pull in as much as eight tons of hay. It would be stored to feed the oxen and horses over the winter.
evelinaames 