Feb 3 Mon. 1851
I rode into Boston with John in the waggon bought M. Cushing a lamp & eng. a nurse. John went to the market for sugar & meat.
Tues.
Charles Rhodes went to Prov. I wrote to Mary. Dr. wrote to C.W.W. We rec. letters from Laura. Bethan Davis took tea here. I had a nice time with her.
Wednes.
I worked upon my green jenny lind sack - as I could work only by day light, I was 3 days about it & I knit eve on account of my eyes Ed went to a ball at Dr. Keeps
- walked home same night.
Thur. Feb 6th
I am 53 yrs. old. I did not go to the Ly. lect. because of the weather.
Frid.
Severe cold. Helped B. make mince pies finished knitting [tab?] for myself.
Sat.
mended fur mits for Dr. & lined mits for E.A. all the morn. swept & starched muslins caps collars and finished my sack. mended socks.
Sund.
Thermom. so low & some freezing rain. I ventured not to church. But I wrote a long letter to father & note to Mary, and now I lay down my pen &c
Mond.
I made a Sheet & the usual cleaning washing &c. took place.
Tues.
dit. finished the second sheet. A call fr. Mrs. Blake call from R. Cushing
Wed.
took my black velvet bonnet apart
Thurs.
worked upon it up stairs the weather was so mild.
Frid.
I went to the Rehearsal with Watt & E; rained, finished my bonnet. bought lamp[?] chimney [cond?] 30 cts.[?]
Sat.
Made out Bridgets account
Sund.
Rev. Knapp & [Storm King???]
Mond.
Letter fr. Sue W. Tues. One from Mary
Wed. Feb 19th
Aunt Susan & Mary arrived fr. Prov.
Thurs.
We had a time looking over old books & things
Frid.
M. went to the rehearsal. Rained.
Sat 22nd
Washington birth day Mary and aunt gone over to the Navy yard returned same eve.
Possibly Dr. Nathan Keep, a prominent dentist who lived at 74 Boylston Street, across from the Boston Common. He later became the the founding dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine but is probably best known for his role in the famous Parkman-Webster murder trial in 1850 in which he was able to identify the remains of Dr. George Parkman through a denture he had made for the murdered Parkman.
"Ly." probably mean the Brookline Lyceum, a forum for lectures formed in the 1830s. It met in the Lyceum Hall on lower Washington Street beginning in the 1840s. See "The History of the Brookline Lyceum Movement", written in 1896.
Aunt Susan is Susan Barrett (Jarvis) Cushing, (1786-1862), the mother-in-law of Mary's daughter Mary (Wild) Cushing. She was also the sister of Benjamin Cushing, the first husband of Mary Wild's mother.
George Washington's birthday did not become a national holiday until 1879, but was often celebrated in Boston and elsewhere. See "George Washington's Birthday" from the National Archives.
