Bridget made 3 squash pies — for G. A.W.
& I cut me out a jenny Lind sack
Wednes. 22 Jan’y. [1851]
Mrs. Blake called. I was writing to Susan. G.A. Wood came out here at 5 — & left us at half past 9 o’clock. — Short visit. The tub of salt pork sailed to Phil. the 21st. — Mrs. B. spent the eve.
Thurs.
Finished my wrapper & went to hear Theo Parker lect.subject “the true & the false gentle man”. — very witty & good
Frid. 24
Miss R. Cushing took tea here. We enjoyed her visit. A. Pierce called.
25 Sat.
Paid Jennison. Mrs. Bogle took tea here. I finished the shirt for E.A.W., mended draws & stockings. Rode up to Brighton with Bogle
Sund. Jan. 26th
I paid Jennison 4’50 Frid 24 for box of soap — all I owed him. Bridget saw me pay . We made a barrel of soft soap.
Sund
We all went to church all day. Mr. Motte preached finely. I have written a note to Laura — and filled out my week’s work — but not everything that I have done in the way of work
I rec. 6$ fr. Dr. to go Prov. I worked hard all the morn packing and putting things in order to leave. I surprised them at Mary’s -- Susan C - was up watching & tending upon Willie who had the measels. The next day I did not feel well enough to go out to father’s.
Wednes. 29th Jan.
The therm. fell 40 deg. and Ed. & I felt cold while riding out to N.P. — I found father feeble but he & Roby were very glad to see me -- on our way we called on Mrs. A.E. Atkinson. She had been married about a week.
Thurs.
Zero. I returned in the eve to Mary & E.C. called for me. Roby gave me a bag of dried apples. — I gave her — something. She is a faithful housekeeper & friend to father & me.
Frid. 31st. Jan.
Mary had some of my old friends to tea.
Sat. Feb. 1
Mrs. Hedge’s daughter called upon me at Mary’s. I returned to Brookline by eve train. Journey cost me 2’75 — I had a delightful visit. I found all nicely at home. Dr. & Wat. went to the musical Fund concert.
Sund. Feb 2nd
Drs. Sen. jun. C. Rhodes & self went to church -- A good sermon fr. Rev. Knapp. In the past week rec. letters from C.W.W. — Susan, & father --
George Augustus Wood, (1816-1883), husband of the Wilds' daughter Susanna
Jenny Lind, (1820-1887), was a Swedish opera singer known as the Swedish Nightingale. She was brought to America by P.T. Barnum for a concert tour that included more than 90 performances from 1850 to 1851, including several in Boston. She gave additional performances, after parting with Barnum, into 1852. Lind married her pianist, Otto Goldschmidt, in Boston in February 1852
A Jenny Lind sack, or dress, was one of many different products inspired by Lind's celebrity and sold throughout the country. Mary was most likely working from a pattern for a Jenny Lind sack.
Examples of advertisements from around the country for Jenny Lind sacks and other products inspired by Lind are shown below.
Theodore Parker, (1810-1860), Unitarian minister, transcendentalist, and abolitionist. Location of this talk is not known.
Rachel A. Cushing, (1807-1885), was a distant relations of Mary’s mother's first husband and of Mary's son-in-law Edward Jarvis Cushing. Rachel lived with the Wilds, paying board, and is mentioned frequently in the diary.
She ran a school for girls in the Tolman house on the southeast corner of Washington and Cypress Streets. (The Peabody sisters had run a school in the same house in the 1820s and 1830s. The Brookline V.F.W. building now occupies the site.) Harriet Woods in her 1874 Historical Sketches of Brookline writes
In one of the west rooms a small select school was kept for many years by Miss Rachel Cushing; it enjoyed an excellent reputation, and many persons look back with pleasure to pleasant years of school-life spent there. The Misses Elizabeth and Mary Peabody (the latter afterwards became Mrs. Horace Mann), also taught at one time a select school in this house.
Unitarian minister Mellish Irving Motte, (1801-1881), apparently a guest speaker at First Parish.
It is unclear if this symbol refers to dollars or something else.
This is most likely Susan Jarvis Cushing, sister-in-law of Mary (Wild) Cushing.
This is most likely William E. Cushing, the five year old son of another sister-in-law of Mary (Wild) Cushing.
Mary's father, William Nehemiah Rhodes, (1768-1853). This is the first of many visits to Rhode Island described by Mary in her diary. Her father, her daughter Mary and Mary's husband Edward J. Cushing, and many members of her extended family lived in Providence and North Providence.
North Providence, where Mary's father lived.
Roby Hudson, caretaker for Mary's father. She is listed, along with Ellen Hudson, in the 1850 Census as living with him in North Providence and is mentioned frequently in Mary's visits to Rhode Island. Her 1855 death from cancer is noted on p30.
Anna Eliza (Rhodes) Atkinson, (1831-1861), daughter of Mary's brother Edward, was married to John Atkinson in Providence on January 16, 1851.
Mrs. Hedge is Lucy (Pierce) Hedge, (1808-1891) the daughter of the late Brookline minister John Pierce. She married Frederic Hedge, (1805-1890), the minister of the Westminster Church in Providence from 1850 to 1856. In 1856 he succeeded Frederick Knapp as minister of Brookline's First Parish church. (Knapp had succeeded Hedge's father-in-law in the post.) The Hedges' daughter was Charlotte Augusta Hedge, (1834-1923).
See p1 for more on the Musical Fund Society
