1852
Wednesday June 2d Lazy this day as usual after being
in Boston Have been with Mrs S Ames
to the sewing circle at Mr Wm Reeds. Had
a very pleasant time as we always do there
not very many present. Mrs Patterson here
again to day. yesterday she staid home to
do her washing She & Jane have done very
little ironing this afternoon
The intense labor of spring cleaning was over, at least for Evelina. She was “[l]azy this day” after yesterday’s trip into Boston with her sisters-in-law. Shopping wore her out more than washing windows or scrubbing floors, it would seem. She summoned enough energy to attend the Sewing Circle at Abigail Reed’s, though.
Sarah Witherell didn’t attend the Sewing Circle; she probably wasn’t socializing outside the family yet. So Sarah Ames and Evelina went without her and enjoyed themselves “as we always do.” Back at the house, however, Evelina’s servants didn’t attend to the ironing as Evelina had hoped they would. Evelina wasn’t pleased. When she worked, she worked very hard, and expected others to do the same. She felt that Mrs Patterson and Mrs McHanna should have been able to do more in her absence.
In the other part of the house, to which Sarah Witherell had retreated after yesterday’s outing, Old Oliver was watching the weather. He noted the welcome arrival of “a little rain […] that wett the ground about an inch deep.”* The spring had been dry.
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 
Old Oliver would have been pleased with our current three days of rain, which by the time it has finished, would probably have raised the Great Pond at least a foot in his day, since I assume that he had a more efficient control of the outflow. It pleases me considerably as well. 😉