Sat Aug 7th Was sewing part of the forenoon made
some pies & cake Went into Olivers about four,
Started to go to Augustus in a waggon and
got caught in a shower turned back at the
school house got completely wet My sons & Mr Ames
were at tea at Olivers Edwin & wife Lavinia & Abby
there Catharine & I have done some sewing this week
two nightgowns for self one for Susan & one cotton &
moire skirt & c &c Susans waists are finished
“[T]he 5, 6 + 7th were pritty warm day[s] + there was some rain,”* wrote Old Oliver in his journal. Evelina was out in that rain and “got completely wet.” Late afternoon showers are part and parcel of August weather in New England. The showers can come up quickly, too, so it’s small wonder that folks moving around the countryside in horse-drawn wagons could get caught in the rain.
While Evelina was getting soaked, her husband Oakes and sons Oakes Angier, Oliver (3) and Frank Morton Ames had tea next door with the Oliver Ames Jr family. How was Oakes Angier feeling, now that he was coughing so much? Perhaps he and his brothers got to hear their cousin Helen play piano again, or perhaps they just ate and conversed. Various Gilmore relatives, including Edwin and Augusta Gilmore, Lavinia Gilmore and Abby Torrey were there as well. As previously noted, Lavinia and Helen were particularly friendly.
And speaking of friends, fans of Sherlock Holmes might enjoy knowing that August 7, 1852 is the purported birthdate of the fictional Holmes’ steady, tolerant and equally fictional sidekick, Dr. John Watson.
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 