Thursday Oct 23rd Mr Smiley Scot & Holbrook came
to paint to day. Mr Smiley whitewashed
the parlour & sitting room & painted two
windows in the sitting room has been to work
all day Hannah & Eddy called this morning
Augustus & wife & self have been to the funeral
of aunt Alger this afternoon Have passed
the evening in Olivers Bridget ONeal came this
morning
Contractors filled the old house again today to paint and continue the refurbishment of the downstairs. The parlor, where company met, and the sitting room, where Evelina sewed, were both being redecorated. We don’t know who Mr. Smiley and Mr. Scott were, but we believe that Mr. Holbrook’s first name was Randall; of the three men, Mr. Scott and Mr. Holbrook would continue off and on to paint various rooms at the Ames’s from this date until June, 1852.
New to this bustle of repainting was Bridget O’Neil, a servant who only arrived in the morning. She was probably taking the place of the recently departed Ellen. She was also the same Bridget who had worked for the family earlier in the year. Where had she gone in the interim?
On a sad note, Evelina attended a funeral today for a Gilmore relative, an aunt in the Alger family. She went with her nephew and his wife, Hannah. Later, she went next door to visit with Sarah Lothrop Ames. Those post-tea evenings were beginning to take place after dark . Very soon tea itself would be served after the sun had gone down. Daylight and warmth would diminish. As Old Oliver noted in his journal , “this was a fair day wind north west and grew cold towards night.”
evelinaames 