Wednesday Aug 25th We were invited to dine again at
Mrs Mills to day. Fred & Helen called at Mrs
Stetsons and we went home with them to Mrs
Mills. Afternoon went to Mrs Footes had a
large & pleasant party and quite a treat
In the evening they acted charades and
we had a merry time Oakes A bears
the excitement pretty well Received a letter from
home saying that Willie Gilmore died last Friday
Evelina heard from the folks at home today and found out that her great-nephew had died. This news was unfortunate, but perhaps not entirely a surprise. She had been concerned about the little boy before she left on her trip; infant mortality was high in those days. Despite the bad news, surely Evelina was glad from her family, even if the tidings were sad. We can pretty well assume that she had not been so far from home before, and she may have been missing her family and friends. Who wrote her, do you suppose? Her husband? Her nephew? One of her nieces? Oliver (3) or Frank Morton? Or perhaps Sarah Witherell wrote, knowing that Evelina would want to know about little Willie.
Evelina probably learned of other Easton goings-on as well. Even the weather would have been a topic of some interest. Old Oliver was, as ever, keeping an eye on the sky and tracking rainfall. As she opened her letter, he might have been making note that on this Wednesday, it “was cloudy most of the day + one small shower.”*
A game of charades filled the evening – fun for all including Oakes Angier, who seemed to be feeling well.
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 