Dec 3d Wednesday. Mr Ames started for New York by
way of Boston. I went to Boston with him dined
at Mr Orrs Melinda went for Selina and
she passed the night there with me. I was very
busy shopping all day In the evening Mr & Mrs
Norris Selina & self played cards Past eleven
when we retired. Mr & Mrs Byram were there
As Old Oliver wrote at one point in his journal, “Oakes went to New York the 3rd of this month to settle up our accounts.” With his natural bonhomie and sharp talent, Oakes was the best salesman on the Ames team. On this trip, he would be away for eight days, delivering invoices, collecting payments, checking on inventory and bringing new orders back home.
Evelina accompanied her husband into Boston, where they stopped for midday dinner at the Orrs’ before Oakes boarded his train. He would have traveled to New York by way of Springfield, or else taken the Old Colony line down to Fall River where steamboats picked up passengers to complete the trip to New York City. Evelina, meanwhile, stayed in Boston to shop and enjoy a bit of socializing with the extended Orr family. She played cards past her bedtime.
Back in Easton, shovel making and farm work went on as usual. Old Oliver, as always, noted the weather: “this was a fair day wind north west + cold. ” He added that “we kild 4 hogs to day everage wate 356 lb sold to the workmen at 7 cents a pound those we sent to boston sold for 7 ¼ cents”. He sold some of the fresh pork to his workmen, probably through the Ames store, and sent the surplus to Boston to be sold.
evelinaames 