Saturday Night, July. – Grandfather was asking us to-night how many things we could remember, and I told him I could remember when Zachary Taylor died, and our church was draped in black, and Mr Daggett preached a funeral sermon about him. and I could remember when Daniel Webster died, and there was service held [...]

Sunday, June 1. – Rev. Dr Shaw, of Rochester, preached for Dr Daggett to-day and his text was: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” He said by this water he meant the pleasures of this life, wealth and fame [...]

March 3, 1856. – Elizabeth Spencer sits with me in school now. She is full of fun but always manages to look very sober when Miss Chesebro looks up to see who is making the noise over our way. I never seem to have that knack. Anna had to stay after school last night and [...]

February 6 (1856).–We were awakened very early this morning by the cry of fire and the ringing of bells and could see the sky red with flames and knew it was the stores and we thought they were all burning up. Pretty soon we heard our big brass door knocker being pounded fast and Grandfather [...]

January 30 (1856).–I came home from school at eleven o’clock this morning and learned a piece to speak this afternoon, but when I got up to school I forgot it, so I thought of another one. Mr. Richards said that he must give me the praise of being the best speaker that spoke in the [...]

January 23. (1856)–This is the third morning that I have come down stairs at exactly twenty minutes to seven. I went to school all day. Mary Paul and Fannie Palmer read “The Snow Bird” to-day. There were some funny things in it. One was : “Why is a lady’s hair like the latest news? Because [...]

December 20, 1855.–Susan B. Anthony is in town and spoke in Bemis Hall this afternoon. She made a special request that all the seminary girls should come to hear her as well as all the women and girls in town. She had a large audience and she talked very plainly about our rights and how [...]

(1855) November 25.–I helped Grandmother get ready for Thanksgiving Day by stoning some raisins and pounding some cloves and cinnamon in the mortar pestle pounder. It is quite a job. I have been writing with a quill pen but I don’t like it because it squeaks so. Grandfather made us some to-day and also bought [...]

(1855) September 1.–Anna and I go to the seminary now. Mr Richards and Mr Tyler are the principals. Anna fell down and sprained her ankle to-day at the seminary, and had to be carried into Mrs Richards’ library. She was sliding down the bannisters with little Annie Richards. I wonder what she will do next. [...]

(1855) 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.

(1855) 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. [...]

(1855) 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 [...]

(1855) 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 God 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 [...]

(1855) January 23.–This evening after reading one of Dickens’ 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 [...]

(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 [...]

December.–There was a moonlight sleighride 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 [...]

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 [...]

  October.–Grandmother told us a story today, 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Saturday.–Grandfather took us down street to be measured for some new patten leather shoes at Mr Ambler’s. They are going to be very nice ones for best. We got our new summer hats from Mrs Freshour’s millinery and we wore them over to show to Aunt Ann and she said they were the very handsomest [...]

June.–Our cousin, George Bates, of Honolulu, came to see us to-day. He has one brother, Dudley, but he didn’t come. George has just graduated from college and is going to Japan to be a doctor. He wrote such a nice piece in my album I must copy it, “If I were a poet I would [...]

April 1.–This is April Fool’s Day. It is not a very pleasant day, but I am not very pleasant either. I spent half an hour this morning very pleasantly writing a letter to my Father but just as I had finished it, Grandmother told me something to write which I did not wish to and [...]

February 4, 1854. – We heard to-day of the death of our little half-sister, Julia Dey Richards, in Penn Yan, yesterday, and I felt so sorry I couldn’t sleep last night so I made up some verses about her and this morning wrote them down and gave them to Grandfather. He liked them so well [...]