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Jan 18 Sunday Has snowed quite hard all day. The
gentlemen all went to meeting & Mrs S Ames & Emily,
Mrs Witherell staid at home because she looks so bad
& Susan & self on account of a cold & cough Have
read The Vale of Cedars by Grace Aguilar & have
written a letter to Pauline Dean. Made a long
call in the other part of the house this evening. Mrs
S Ames there with me
Feeling under par, Evelina and her daughter stayed home from church today while the men of the house pushed through the “fine cold dry snow”** to get to meeting. Sarah Witherell stayed home, too, still recovering from having had her teeth pulled. It was a luxurious opportunity for Evelina – and Susie and Sarah, perhaps – to sit and read in relative quiet.
Evelina’s choice (which she probably read in serialized form in a periodical, as the tale wasn’t published in book form until 1853) was The Vale of Cedars or The Martyr’s Tale by Grace Aguilar. It was a tale of a Jewish father and daughter trying to hide from the Spanish Inquisition in 1479. The “Vale of Cedars” was their hideout. Eventually discovered and imprisoned, the daughter resisted the church’s demand that she convert to Catholicism. Thus, the “Martyr’s Tale.” The dramatic plot with its medieval overtones, exotic location, and anti-catholicism probably captivated Evelina, just as the author meant it to. Aguilar included these words from Byron’s [Oh! Weep for Me] in her introduction to the book:
“The wild dove hath her nest – the fox her cave –
Mankind their country – Israel but the grave.”
George Gordon, Lord Byron
**Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archive, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 