1851
Sat Nov 15th Another day I have been about house all
day, this morning helped the gardener weigh out
a box of sugar that we bought in Boston
got my bags of cloth of different kinds
in order in the shed chamber It has been
very stormy all day Mr Ames and Oliver Jr
in Boston Oliver went yesterday He looked
at carriages but did not purchase one
Bridget gone to housekeeping
At the rate Evelina used sugar in her fruit preserves, she needed many loaves of it. Unable to purchase it at the family store in the village, she bought what they needed in Boston at Faneuil Hall. On this day, she appeared to be breaking at least part of a sugar loaf into usable bits for her kitchen. The family gardener helped her, perhaps because the sugar loaf was so heavy to hold.
Sugar wasn’t the only commodity that Boston had to offer. Evelina’s husband, Oakes, and his brother, Oliver Ames Jr., had gone to the city, the latter in search of a new carriage. He – or they – didn’t purchase anything, just looked. Oliver Jr. would have been very careful about the cost and quality of such a big item. Both men would have admired the various coaches, chaises, gigs and traps they must have seen.
It’s worth noting that Evelina reveals today where she kept her “bags of cloth,” when not working on them: in the shed. As she organized them today, folding cloth and perhaps tossing any textiles that couldn’t be used, she would have heard steady rain on the roof.
evelinaames 