Tues. eve. we had a very pleasant time. Dr. intensely interested in dancing & waltzing took lesson of the Walkers. E.J.C. staid two nights, Mary Watty & Ed & myself went to the B. Theater to see the Ravels
Thurs.
Thurs. Jan 1st 1857
E.J.C. went home and left Mary to stay longer. Mrs. Blake called.
Frid.
R. Cushing dined here & we took tea at C. Heaths.
Sat.
Snowed all day. Dr. staid the night at Chapins. Mary & Watty practiced music together.
Sund. 4th
M. Wat & I went to church in the morning, and they went into B. to see Anna Sullivan in the afternoon and took tea at Mr. Blakes in the eve. I had gone about so much in the week I felt too tired to go to Mr. Blakes. John Candler called to see Mary and the Dr. took out a tooth for him. A letter from Ellen -- dated Constantinople Nov. 19 /56 -- they were to leave for Athens in a few days. I wrote this last week to Charly Laura & Susan.
Mond. 5th
Mary went home.
Tues. 6th
Horrid cold. Thermom. below zero most all the week -- and Sund. 11th morning 13 below. Mrs. Blake and her seamstress walked to the Norfolk House and took the cars for Boston. Mond. Dr. told me about the watch present. I hope to hear no more of such fancies.
Tues 13th
Laura came from B. to attend the social ball and Wednes. I went to Boston with her to have 6 or 7 teeth out. The day was pleasant and she stood it bravely. -- but a few days after she [shew?] how sadly her system had run down, in consequence of too much labor over her children when sick with dysentery. She was not well enough to go home.
Sat. 17th
It stormed dreadfully Sund eve & Mond.
Tues. 27th
4th ball. I went to please Laura & Dr - and wore a nice green silk Dr. bought for me, & Laura helped me to make.
Wednes 28th
Was the first time the cars run over the O Colony for about ten days
Thurs.
Cobbs had a party -- I did not feel well. Dr. went. Mr. Phipps came up to see if Laura was well enough to go home and Watty attended L. to Bridge
Sat. 31st
Snow & rain all day
Sund. 1st of Feb.
I went to church all day, and took tea at Mrs. Dr. Pierce
Mond.
Pleasant -- to dry clothes -- I worked hard the morn, had pain in my knees
Tues.
Ironed etc. Mended pants
Wednes.
Dr. & I went into Boston Theater, Still Waters & Corsair
See pop-up note on the previous page.
With Edward having finished his time as a surgeon with the Sultan's army, he and Ellen were leaving Turkey to begin their tour of Europe before coming back to Brookline.
The brick Norfolk House hotel in Eliot Square in Roxbury -- then an independent city -- was built in 1853, replacing an earlier wood-frame structure. In 1914 it was bought by the South End Industrial School and converted to a settlement house called The Norfolk House Center, later renamed the Marcus Garvey House. In the 1980s it was converted to condominiums, with retail space on the ground floor. Shown below are an article announcing the new hotel plus views of the building in the 1850s, 1930s, and today.
In 1856, three years after the opening of the new Norfolk House, the horse-drawn omnibuses connecting Eliot Square to downtown Boston were replaced by the Metropolitan Railroad. This cars of this street railway were still horse drawn but ran along rails.
There were several balls held in Boston in this period. It's not clear which ball Laura came to attend or which one Mary, somewhat reluctantly, attended on January 27th.
Still Waters Run Deep was a play by the British playwright Tom Taylor. The Corsair, or The Little Fairy at the Bottom of the Sea was a play by William Brough, sometimes subtitled "A New Christmas Burlesque and Pantomime." It was based on the 1856 ballet Le Corsaire which was in turn based on The Corsair, a tale in verse published by Lord Byron in 1814.
