The Four Seasons, from Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1851
1852
Jan 1st Thursday. It being very stormy last night Alson &
wife came home with us from Olivers & spent the night
and forenoon. Cooked a turkey for dinner.
Went with them to Augustus this afternoon and
evening called on Mrs J C Williams, found her
making some shop shirts for Oakes Angier. The weather
is very warm & unpleasant
The new year began with rain and high water in the ponds, pleasing Old Oliver Ames. He may have been retired from the shovel shop, but he kept close watch on how the business was doing, and how the business was doing depended heavily on how the water power was running. Evelina herself found the rain “unpleasant.”
Evelina and her family marked the day with a turkey dinner, making it an occasion. Evelina’s brother, Alson Gilmore, and his wife, Henrietta, had stayed the night, unable to get back to their farm in the driving rain. They were rewarded with a feast. After the midday meal ended, Evelina went with them to see Alson’s eldest son, Alson Augustus Gilmore, and his young family.
Back in the village, Evelina visited a seamstress about making shirts for her son, Oakes Angier Ames. Mrs. Williams, who was probably a widow, would sew a number of work or shop shirts for the Ames men over the course of the year. Evelina herself had sewn multiple shirts the previous spring, a task that took her weeks to finish. Much as she enjoyed sewing, she must have been thrilled to pass the chore on to someone else. This would free her up to concentrate on dresses and accessories, as well as tend to the mending basket that always had work in it.
evelinaames 