Sat Sept 25th Louisa has a swelling on the back of
her hand which troubles her & she left this
morning and I have got Catharine Middleton
to stay untill next Wednesday when I expect
a new girl Catharine made some squash
pies and finished the ironing. It has been about
most all the week Helen & I have been to N Bridgewater
She had a tooth extracted I got a Piano stool
Evelina was still spending money. In North Bridgewater (today’s Brockton) she bought a music stool to go with the new piano that was coming soon to her parlor. With her was niece Helen Angier Ames; the fifteen-year-old had a less enjoyable errand to accomplish: getting a tooth pulled. It’s interesting that Helen’s aunt, Evelina, and not her mother, Sarah Lothrop Ames, accompanied the girl to the dentist.
In the servant department, the new girl, Louisa McAvoy, departed today, having not even worked a full week. Evelina was really struggling to keep a household staff together. Catherine Middleton agreed to stay on and was helpful with the baking and ironing, the latter of which had taken “most all the week” to complete. We might wonder if Evelina ever missed Jane McHanna, the one servant who had been steady, if occasionally ill – the one whom Evelina had fired in June. Evelina had yet to really settle on a dependable replacement.
evelinaames 