Old view of Gilmore house near Foundry and Washington Streets*
June 10th Thursday This morning worked a few moments
on my bonnet and about half past ten Mr &
Mrs Orr Mr Ames & self went to Alsons to
spend the day Mr Ames Orr & Alson rode
to W Bridgewater after noon Mother is most
sick with a cold Called at Mr Copelands
to get Susans hat & Lavinia mended it where
it was burned
The Orrs of Boston continued their visit with Evelina and Oakes. The rain showers – too brief to satisfy area farmers – receded and the sunshine returned, along with wind that was “strong and verry dusty.”** The Ameses and the Orrs took to the road, traveling a few miles south to spend the day with Evelina’s mother at the Gilmore farm.
After midday dinner with the Gilmores, Oakes Ames, Robert Orr and Alson Gilmore rode east to West Bridgewater. What was their business? Evelina and Melinda stayed behind with elderly Mrs. Gilmore who was poorly. Evelina managed to go over to the Copelands to pick up a hat she had left there for Susan, which Lavinia proceeded to mend for her little cousin.
Old Oliver, meanwhile, was looking ahead to bringing in the hay, assuming it hadn’t been ruined by the lack of rain. He “bought a yoke of cattle from Howard Lothrop,”** the latter a well-known man in Easton who, according to a 19th c. history of Plymouth County, “styled himself a farmer, yet did much business of a partially legal character [..] for which work his superior business qualities and excellent judgment especially fitted him.” The Honorable Mr. Lothrop was also a former town clerk, state senator, member of the Governor’s Council, and father of Sarah Lothrop Ames. Between the two strong men, seller Howard and buyer Oliver, who got the best deal?
*Image from Howard Gilmore Papers, Courtesy of Easton Historical Society
**Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
***usgwarchives.org
evelinaames 
They still had Captain John’s shop in W. Bridgewater, upgraded over the years by Old Oliver. That was the shop that Old Oliver went over to in the first summer of Thoreau’s sojourn at Walden and reported that it was so hot that all work had ceased for the day….but I think that I am starting to repeat myself. 😉