Village Life in America 1852-1872 Part 2

_Monday._--When we were on our way to school this morning we saw General Granger coming, and Anna had on such a homely sunbonnet she took it off and hid it behind her till he had gone by. When we told Grandmother she said, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." I never heard of any one who knew so many Bible verses as Grandmother. Anna thought she would be sorry for her and get her a new sunbonnet, but she didn't.

_Sunday._--We have Sunday School at nine o'clock in the morning now.

Grandfather loves to watch us when we walk off together down the street, so he walks back and forth on the front walk till we come out, and gives us our money for the contribution. This morning we had on our new white dresses that Miss Rosewarne made and new summer hats and new patten leather shoes and our mitts. When he had looked us all over he said, with a smile, "The Bible says, let your garments be always white." After we had gone on a little ways, Anna said: "If Grandmother had thought of that verse I wouldn't have had to wear my pink barege dress to the concert." I told her she need not feel bad about that now, for she sang as well as any of them and looked just as good. She always believes everything I say, although she does not always do what I tell her to.

Mr. Noah T. Clarke told us in Sunday School last Sunday that if we wanted to take shares in the missionary ship, _Morning Star,_ we could buy them at 10 cents apiece, and Grandmother gave us $1 to-day so we could have ten shares. We got the certificate with a picture of the ship on it, and we are going to keep it always. Anna says if we pay the money, we don't have to go.

_Sunday._--I almost forgot that it was Sunday this morning and talked and laughed just as I do week days. Grandmother told me to write down this verse before I went to church so I would remember it: "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of G.o.d, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools." I will remember it now, sure. My feet are all right any way with my new patten leather shoes on but I shall have to look out for my head. Mr. Thomas Howell read a sermon to-day as Mr. Daggett is out of town. Grandmother always comes upstairs to get the candle and tuck us in before she goes to bed herself, and some nights we are sound asleep and do not hear her, but last night we only pretended to be asleep. She kneeled down by the bed and prayed aloud for us, that we might be good children and that she might have strength given to her from on high to guide us in the straight and narrow path which leads to life eternal. Those were her very words. After she had gone downstairs we sat up in bed and talked about it and promised each other to be good, and crossed our hearts and "hoped to die" if we broke our promise. Then Anna was afraid we would die, but I told her I didn't believe we would be as good as that, so we kissed each other and went to sleep.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Noah T. Clarke, Miss Upham]

_Monday._--"Old Alice" was at our house to-day and Grandmother gave her some flowers. She hid them in her ap.r.o.n for she said if she should meet any little children and they should ask for them she would have to let them go. Mrs. Gooding was at our house to-day and made a carpet. We went over to Aunt Mary Carr's this evening to see the gas and the new chandeliers. They are brontz.

_Tuesday._--My three chapters that I read this morning were about Josiah's zeal and reformation; 2nd, Jerusalem taken by Nebuchadnezzar; 3rd, Jerusalem besieged and taken. The reason that we always read the Bible the first thing in the morning is because it says in the Bible, "Seek first the kingdom of G.o.d and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Grandmother says she hopes we will treasure up all these things in our hearts and practice them in our lives. I hope so, too. This morning Anna got very mad at one of the girls and Grandmother told her she ought to return good for evil and heap coals of fire on her head. Anna said she wished she could and burn her all up, but I don't think she meant it.

_Wednesday._--I got up this morning at twenty minutes after five. I always brush my teeth every morning, but I forget to put it down here. I read my three chapters in Job and played in the garden and had time to read Grandmother a piece in the paper about some poor children in New York. Anna and I went over to Aunt Ann's before school and she gave us each two sticks of candy apiece. Part of it came from New York and part from Williamstown, Ma.s.s., where Henry goes to college. Ann Eliza is going down street with us this afternoon to buy us some new summer bonnets. They are to be trimmed with blue and white and are to come to five dollars. We are going to Mr. Stannard's store also, to buy us some stockings. I ought to buy me a new thimble and scissors for I carried my sewing to school to-day and they were inside of it very carelessly and dropped out and got lost. I ought to buy them with my own money, but I haven't got any, for I gave all I had (two shillings) to Anna to buy Louisa Field a cornelian ring. Perhaps Father will send me some money soon, but I hate to ask him for fear he will rob himself. I don't like to tell Grandfather how very careless I was, though I know he would say, "Accidents will happen."

_Thursday._--I was up early this morning because a dressmaker, Miss Willson, is coming to make me a new calico dress. It is white with pink spots in it and Grandfather bought it in New York. It is very nice indeed and I think Grandfather was very kind to get it for me. I had to stay at home from school to be fitted. I helped sew and run my dress skirt around the bottom and whipped it on the top. I went to school in the afternoon, but did not have my lessons very well. Miss Clark excused me because I was not there in the morning. Some girls got up on our fence to-day and walked clear across it, the whole length. It is iron and very high and has a stone foundation. Grandmother asked them to get down, but I think they thought it was more fun to walk up there than it was on the ground. The name of the little girl that got up first was Mary Lapham. She is Lottie Lapham's cousin. I made the pocket for my dress after I got home from school and then Grandfather said he would take us out to ride, so he took us way up to Thaddeus Chapin's on the hill. Julia Phelps was there, playing with Laura Chapin, for she is her cousin. Henry and Ann Eliza Field came over to call this evening. Henry has come home from Williams College on his vacation and he is a very pleasant young man, indeed. I am reading a continued story in _Harper's Magazine_. It is called Little Dorritt, by Charles d.i.c.kens, and is very interesting.

_Friday, May._--Miss Clark told us we could have a picnic down to Sucker Brook this afternoon and she told us to bring our rubbers and lunches by two o'clock; but Grandmother was not willing to let us go; not that she wished to deprive us of any pleasure for she said instead we could wear our new black silk basks and go with her to Preparatory lecture, so we did, but when we got there we found that Mr. Daggett was out of town so there was no meeting. Then she told us we could keep dressed up and go over to Aunt Mary Carr's and take her some apples, and afterwards Grandfather took us to ride to see old Mrs. Sanborn and old Mr. and Mrs.

At.w.a.ter. He is ninety years old and blind and deaf, so we had quite a good time after all.

Rev. Mr. d.i.c.key, of Rochester, agent for the Seaman's Friend Society, preached this morning about the poor little ca.n.a.l boy. His text was from the 107th Psalm, 23rd verse, "They that go down into the sea in ships."

He has the queerest voice and stops off between his words. When we got home Anna said she would show us how he preached and she described what he said about a sailor in time of war. She said, "A ball came--and struck him there--another ball came--and struck him there--he raised his faithful sword--and went on--to victory--or death." I expected Grandfather would reprove her, but he just smiled a queer sort of smile and Grandmother put her handkerchief up to her face, as she always does when she is amused about anything. I never heard her laugh out loud, but I suppose she likes funny things as well as anybody. She did just the same, this morning, when Grandfather asked Anna where the sun rose, and she said "over by Gen. Granger's house and sets behind the Methodist church." She said she saw it herself and should never forget it when any one asked her which was east or west. I think she makes up more things than any one I know of.

_Sunday._--Rev. M. L. R. P. Thompson preached to-day. He used to be the minister of our church before Mr. Daggett came. Some people call him Rev. "Alphabet" Thompson, because he has so many letters in his name. He preached a very good sermon from the text, "Dearly beloved, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." I like to hear him preach, but not as well as I do Mr. Daggett. I suppose I am more used to him.

_Thursday._--Edward Everett, of Boston, lectured in our church this evening. They had a platform built even with the tops of the pews, so he did not have to go up into the pulpit. Crowds and crowds came to hear him from all over everywhere. Grandmother let me go. They say he is the most eloquent speaker in the U. S., but I have heard Mr. Daggett when I thought he was just as good.

_Sunday._--We went to church to-day and heard Rev. Mr. Stowe preach. His text was, "The poor ye have with you always and whensoever ye will ye may do them good." I never knew any one who liked to go to church as much as Grandmother does. She says she "would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of our G.o.d, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." They don't have women doorkeepers, and I know she would not dwell a minute in a tent. Mr. Coburn is the doorkeeper in our church and he rings the bell every day at nine in the morning and at twelve and at nine in the evening, so Grandfather knows when it is time to cover up the fire in the fireplace and go to bed. I think if the President should come to call he would have to go home at nine o'clock. Grandfather's motto is:

"Early to bed and early to rise Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

_Tuesday._--Mrs. Greig and Miss Chapin called to see us to-day.

Grandmother says that we can return the calls as she does not visit any more. We would like to, for we always enjoy dressing up and making calls. Anna and I received two black veils in a letter to-day from Aunt Caroline Dey. Just exactly what we had wanted for a long while. Uncle Edward sent us five dollars and Grandmother said we could buy just what we wanted, so we went down street to look at black silk mantillas. We went to Moore's store and to Richardson's and to Collier's, but they asked ten, fifteen or twenty dollars for them, so Anna said she resolved from now, henceforth and forever not to spend her money for black silk mantillas.

_Sunday._--Rev. Mr. Tousley preached to-day to the children and told us how many steps it took to be bad. I think he said lying was first, then disobedience to parents, breaking the Sabbath, swearing, stealing, drunkenness. I don't remember just the order they came. It was very interesting, for he told lots of stories and we sang a great many times.

I should think Eddy Tousley would be an awful good boy with his father in the house with him all the while, but probably he has to be away part of the time preaching to other children.

_Sunday._--Uncle David Dudley Field and his daughter, Mrs. Brewer, of Stockbridge, Ma.s.s., are visiting us. Mrs. Brewer has a son, David Josiah, who is in Yale College. After he graduates he is going to be a lawyer and study in his Uncle David Dudley Field's office in New York.

He was born in Smyrna, Asia Minor, where his father and mother were missionaries to the Greeks, in 1837. Our Uncle David preached for Mr.

Daggett this afternoon. He is a very old man and left his sermon at home and I had to go back after it. His brother, Timothy, was the first minister in our church, about fifty years ago. Grandmother says she came all the way from Connecticut with him on horseback on a pillion behind him. Rather a long ride, I should say. I heard her and Uncle David talking about their childhood and how they lived in Guilford, Conn., in a house that was built upon a rock. That was some time in the last century like the house that it tells about in the Bible that was built on a rock.

_Sunday, August 10, 1854._--Rev. Mr. Daggett's text this morning was, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Grandmother said she thought the sermon did not do us much good for she had to tell us several times this afternoon to stop laughing. Grandmother said we ought to be good Sundays if we want to go to heaven, for there it is one eternal Sabbath.

Anna said she didn't want to be an angel just yet and I don't think there is the least danger of it, as far as I can judge. Grandmother said there was another verse, "If we do not have any pleasure on the Sabbath, or think any thoughts, we shall ride on the high places of the earth,"

and Anna said she liked that better, for she would rather ride than do anything else, so we both promised to be good. Grandfather told us they used to be more strict about Sunday than they are now. Then he told us a story, how he had to go to Geneva one Sat.u.r.day morning in the stage and expected to come back in the evening, but there was an accident, so the stage did not come till Sunday morning. Church had begun and he told the stage driver to leave him right there, so he went in late and the stage drove on. The next day he heard that he was to come before the minister, Rev. Mr. Johns, and the deacons and explain why he had broken the fourth commandment. When he got into the meeting Mr. Johns asked him what he had to say, and he explained about the accident and asked them to read a verse from the 8th chapter of John, before they made up their minds what to do to him. The verse was, "Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone." Grandfather said they all smiled, and the minister said the meeting was out. Grandfather says that shows it is better to know plenty of Bible verses, for some time they may do you a great deal of good. We then recited the catechism and went to bed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: First Congregational Church]

_August 21._--Anna says that Alice Jewett feels very proud because she has a little baby brother. They have named him John Harvey Jewett after his father, and Alice says when he is bigger she will let Anna help her take him out to ride in his baby-carriage. I suppose they will throw away their dolls now.

_Tuesday, September_ 1.--I am sewing a sheet over and over for Grandmother and she puts a pin in to show me my stint, before I can go out to play. I am always glad when I get to it. I am making a sampler, too, and have all the capital letters worked and now will make the small ones. It is done in cross st.i.tch on canvas with different color silks. I am going to work my name, too. I am also knitting a tippet on some wooden needles that Henry Carr made for me. Grandmother has raveled it out several times because I dropped st.i.tches. It is rather tedious, but she says, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Some military soldiers went by the house to-day and played some beautiful music.

Grandfather has a teter and swing for us in the back yard and we enjoy them usually, but to-night Anna slid off the teter board when she was on the ground and I was in the air and I came down sooner than I expected.

There was a hand organ and monkey going by and she was in a hurry to get to the street to see it. She got there a good while before I did. The other day we were swinging and Grandmother called us in to dinner, but Anna said we could not go until we "let the old cat die." Grandmother said it was more important that we should come when we are called.

_October._--Grandmother's name is Abigail, but she was always called "Nabby" at home. Some of the girls call me "Carrie," but Grandmother prefers "Caroline." She told us to-day, how when she was a little girl, down in Connecticut in 1794, she was on her way to school one morning and she saw an Indian coming and was so afraid, but did not dare run for fear he would chase her. So she thought of the word sago, which means "good morning," and when she got up close to him she dropped a curtesy and said "Sago," and he just went right along and never touched her at all. She says she hopes we will always be polite to every one, even to strangers.

_November._--Abbie Clark's father has been elected Governor and she is going to Albany to live, for a while. We all congratulated her when she came to school this morning, but I am sorry she is going away. We will write to each other every week. She wrote a prophecy and told the girls what they were going to be and said I should be mistress of the White House. I think it will happen, about the same time that Anna goes to be a missionary.

_December._--There was a moonlight sleigh-ride of boys and girls last night, but Grandfather did not want us to go, but to-night he said he was going to take us to one himself. So after supper he told Mr. Piser to harness the horse to the cutter and bring it around to the front gate. Mr. Piser takes care of our horse and the Methodist Church. He lives in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Grandfather sometimes calls him Shakespeare to us, but I don't know why. He doesn't look as though he wrote poetry.

Grandfather said he was going to take us out to Mr. Waterman Powers' in Farmington and he did. They were quite surprised to see us, but very glad and gave us apples and doughnuts and other good things. We saw Anne and Imogene and Morey and one little girl named Zimmie. They wanted us to stay all night, but Grandmother was expecting us. We got home safe about ten o'clock and had a very nice time. We never sat up so late before.

1855

_Wednesday, January_ 9.--I came downstairs this morning at ten minutes after seven, almost frozen. I never spent such a cold night before in all my life. It is almost impossible to get warm even in the dining-room. The thermometer is 10 below zero. The schoolroom was so cold that I had to keep my cloak on. I spoke a piece this afternoon. It was "The Old Arm Chair," by Eliza Cook. It begins, "I love it, I love it, and who shall dare to chide me for loving that old arm chair?" I love it because it makes me think of Grandmother. After school to-night Anna and I went downtown to buy a writing book, but we were so cold we thought we would never get back. Anna said she knew her toes were frozen. We got as far as Mr. Taylor's gate and she said she could not get any farther; but I pulled her along, for I could not bear to have her perish in sight of home. We went to bed about eight o'clock and slept very nicely indeed, for Grandmother put a good many blankets on and we were warm.

_January_ 23.--This evening after reading one of d.i.c.kens' stories I knit awhile on my mittens. I have not had nice ones in a good while.

Grandmother cut out the ones that I am wearing of white flannel, bound round the wrist with blue merino. They are not beautiful to be sure, but warm and will answer all purposes until I get some that are better. When I came home from school to-day Mrs. Taylor was here. She noticed how tall I was growing and said she hoped that I was as good as I was tall.

A very good wish, I am sure.

_Sunday, January_ 29.--Mr. Daggett preached this morning from the text, Deut. 8: 2: "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy G.o.d led thee." It is ten years to-day since Mr. Daggett came to our church, and he told how many deaths there had been, and how many baptisms, and how many members had been added to the church. It was a very interesting sermon, and everybody hoped Mr. Daggett would stay here ten years more, or twenty, or thirty, or always. He is the only minister that I ever had, and I don't ever want any other. We never could have any one with such a voice as Mr. Daggett's, or such beautiful eyes. Then he has such good sermons, and always selects the hymns we like best, and reads them in such a way. This morning they sang: "Thus far the Lord has led me on, thus far His power prolongs my days." After he has been away on a vacation he always has for the first hymn, and we always turn to it before he gives it out:

"Upward I lift mine eyes, From G.o.d is all my aid; The G.o.d that built the skies, And earth and nature made.

"G.o.d is the tower To which I fly His grace is nigh In every hour."

He always prays for the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

_January,_ 1855.--Johnny Lyon is dead. Georgia Wilkinson cried awfully in school because she said she was engaged to him.

_April._--Grandmother received a letter from Connecticut to-day telling of the death of her only sister. She was knitting before she got it and she laid it down a few moments and looked quite sad and said, "So sister Anna is dead." Then after a little she went on with her work. Anna watched her and when we were alone she said to me, "Caroline, some day when you are about ninety you may be eating an apple or reading or doing something and you will get a letter telling of my decease and after you have read it you will go on as usual and just say, 'So sister Anna is dead.'" I told her that I knew if I lived to be a hundred and heard that she was dead I should cry my eyes out, if I had any.

_May._--Father has sent us a box of fruit from New Orleans. Prunes, figs, dates and oranges, and one or two pomegranates. We never saw any of the latter before. They are full of cells with jelly in, very nice.

He also sent some seeds of sensitive plant, which we have sown in our garden.

This evening I wrote a letter to John and a little "poetry" to Father, but it did not amount to much. I am going to write some a great deal better some day. Grandfather had some letters to write this morning, and got up before three o'clock to write them! He slept about three-quarters of an hour to-night in his chair.

_Sunday._--There was a stranger preached for Dr. Daggett this morning and his text was, "Man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart." When we got home Anna said the minister looked as though he had been sick from birth and his forehead stretched from his nose to the back of his neck, he was so bald. Grandmother told her she ought to have been more interested in his words than in his looks, and that she must have very good eyes if she could see all that from our pew, which is the furthest from the pulpit of any in church, except Mr.

Gibson's, which is just the same. Anna said she couldn't help seeing it unless she shut her eyes, and then every one would think she had gone to sleep. We can see the Academy boys from our pew, too.

Mr. Lathrop, of the seminary, is superintendent of the Sunday School now and he had a present to-day from Miss Betsey Chapin, and several visitors came in to see it presented: Dr. Daggett, Mr. and Mrs. Alex.

Howell, Mr. Tousley, Mr. Stowe, Mr. and Mrs. Gideon Granger and several others. The present was a certificate of life membership to something; I did not hear what. It was just a large piece of parchment, but they said it cost $25. Miss Lizzie Bull is my Sunday School teacher now. She asked us last Sunday to look up a place in the Bible where the trees held a consultation together, to see which one should reign over them. I did not remember any such thing, but I looked it up in the concordance and found it in Judges 9: 8. I found the meaning of it in Scott's Commentary and wrote it down and she was very much pleased, and told us next Sunday to find out all about Absalom.

_July._--Our sensitive plant is growing nicely and it is quite a curiosity. It has fern-like leaves and when we touch them, they close, but soon come out again. Anna and I keep them performing.

_September_ 1.--Anna and I go to the seminary now. Mr. Richards and Mr.