November 20, 1851

Thursday Nov 20  I had to get breakfast again this 

morning and do most of the housework  Jane

assisted some and ironed three fine shirts &

washed the dishes after dinner  Mrs Whitwell

came with Mr Brown when he came to school

and staid untill about three and Mr Whitwell

came for her,  after she left I prepared the

mince for pies  Jane chopped the apple

With Jane McHanna continuing to feel poorly, Evelina again cooked breakfast. As her grandson, Winthrop Ames later pointed out, “family breakfasts were promptly at six – and no sketchy affairs of orange juice and a bit of toast either, but substantial meals of mill-ground cereals, eggs and often meat.”* Evelina was cooking for five people, not counting Jane or any other help. She also would have had to prepare the main meal at midday, and tea later on. Today’s tea may have been a simple affair.

Jane felt a bit better as the day wore on and managed to iron shirts, wash dishes and chop apples for baking.  When Evelina wasn’t sitting with her afternoon visitors, Eliza Whitwell and Erastus Brown, she worked in the kitchen on her mincemeat. Thanksgiving Day was only one week away, and the preparing of food for the feast had begun. Pie time!

**Winthrop Ames, The Ames Family of Easton, Massachusetts, privately printed, 1937, p. 128