Foggy
morning. At the [law] office. Afternoon, talked of the West. If I go, I shall
advertise in the [New York] Tribune that I collect, &c. Evening, finished Tristram Shandy & commenced Bayard Taylor’s
letters of travel. Pleasant day for the first of autumn.
Pa
quite unwell today. Fixed a pen for my pig. The dog got him & carried him
off quite a way in his mouth. Ma saw him & took it away – not dead.
Studied some but did not feel well today. Talked with Austin. Made up my mind to teach before practicing law if I can obtain a situation.
Probably will go to Pennsylvania. Read some of Bayard Taylor’s earlier travels – interesting & exciting.
There seems to be a change of temperature since autumn commenced; cold &
windy.
Took
some things to Mrs. Tennent. Called at Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s. Went to the [law]
office to study. Went to Aunt Lucy’s to dinner. Paid [William] Smyth
for [news]paper. Did not feel well in the afternoon. Aunt Betsy
& [her daughter] Fanny here. Read in the evening & slept.
Sunday.
Went to church. [James] Rankine preached; rather dull. Wrote a letter to Coburn,
[Lewis] Moss
& [Henry] Handerson. Late
Truesdell’s child’s funeral. Read & wrote in the afternoon. Read in the
evening & finished Bayard Taylor’s letters. Very sleepy tonight.
Went
to the [law] office. [Willoughby] Babcock [had] gone home. Called on Mr. [William] Smyth. Read in the Cyclopedia
that the Druid’s Priest were supposed to be of Indo extraction or descendants
of the Brahmins of India. Stimulant of which you can raise the ideas is to drink
Champaign
& keep the feet in cold water.
Went
up to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s, then down to Mr. [James] Rankine’s. Had a talk
with him on religion. He believes that there are grades of bliss in heaven. We
had something of a dispute about it. He believes that the happiness of each is
intensified or diminished according as they have lived spotless or wicked lives,
on the supposition that the wicked finally repent & are saved. He says that
if a person has wicked thoughts and endeavors to keep them away, he does not
sin. To be tempted [by itself] is not sin. Thoughts, though wicked, are not
necessarily sinning unless harbored. He gave me advice in regard to selecting a
school.
I
helped Austin
carry his trunk to the depot [where I saw] Austin off. He is going to Pennsylvania
to find a school [to teach]. Nice
he could try to find me one [too]. Went to the [law] office & studied the
rest of the afternoon. [Nathaniel] Davis
did not like the notion of Austin’s going away without saying anything to him. Went to hear a chief of the
Tuscarawas speak in the evening. Didn’t like him much. Good deal of white
blood in him.
Cold
morning. Went over rather early with an advertisement for the New
York Observer for a situation to teach. In afternoon, went to the Court
House to see a suit. Went up to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s. C.
Warner
was there. Came home with the girls.
Attended
the law suit a short time. [My cousins] Edwin and George Stratton here. I was
examining today of those I saw [in court] who had a high back corresponding with
equal developments in other places. Scarcely any had any high back head.
Finished reading Practice. My piece [appeared] in the paper [today]. Few errors
in printing. In evening, went down to Lee [Goodrich]’s. Wrote & read a
little French.
Our
folks started for camp meeting. Went to Owego and called on Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s.
Was paid 75 cents for drawing up a deed – the first I was paid since being in
the [law] office. Col.
[Nathaniel] Davis talked up some of his nonsense a good deal in the morning. Came home early in
the afternoon. Went to the depot to see if Stella [Reed] had come. The small
boys had built a fire on the circus ring & were performing & jumping
over the fire, while in the distance a sweet voice was warbling “Evening
Star.” Planning how to go to camp meeting.
Commenced
raining this morning & continued all day. Went to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s;
thence to the office. Went to Aunt Lucy’s to dinner; none but the girls were
there. Had quite a disputing time with her boarder Miss Loundsbury.
Went up to supper. [My cousins] Jim Fiddis, George Stratton, & Lee Goodrich
were in the [law] office. Jim Fiddis came over. Sleepy. Expecting George
Stratton tonight.
George
Stratton here. Got up about 4 o’clock & got the horse. Started for camp
meeting about half past seven. Saw [cousin] Edwin Stratton & Dave.
Told Edwin what I intended to do & said I would try to find him a place to
teach. He wanted George & I to go up to his house the 21st of this month [to
celebrate] his birthday. We were delighted with fine showers through the day.
Came home about sundown. Evening sleepy. In the afternoon, George and I went to
the tavern & got a drink.
Went
to the [law] office. Went up to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s to dinner. The girls came
over in the afternoon & I with them. Lucy & Anna [Fiddis] and Charlotte
Warner from Ithaca
[were there]. In the evening, Jo Berry
& [his] mother came over, and Charlotte [Warner] & I got in his wagon
& took a ride. George Stratton came over & we had a glorious time
singing & dancing. They went home about 11. I
went part way with them.
Cold
day. Nothing new.
Very
windy. The [day of the] balloon ascension in the fairground. Went to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s
in the morning. Staid there some time. Steadsin in the [law] office. Afternoon,
went to the show with Lee. At the Ahwaga [House], saw Lin Tinkham. Went up with
him. Evening sleepy. Lee [Goodrich], Stella [Reed], & Herbert [Goodrich]
& Jo [Berry] here. Went to the depot at 12 [midnight] with [my sister] Augusta. [She was leaving] for
Hartford
[Connecticut].
Went
up on the mountain with Lucy [Stratton], [my sister] Mary, and Charlotte Warner.
Studied in the [law] office in the afternoon. Evening, was confirmed at the
Episcopal Church.
Dark
& rainy. Afternoon, went with George Stratton up to the depot to see
Charlotte (“Lottie”) Warner off. She has some good points about her &
some poor ones. She is not the smartest of girls, but is as good as they
generally are. Troubled a good deal knowing what I can do. Doubtful whether I
can get a situation to teach. It is dark but there is room to hope.
Cold
& rainy today. Today, closed for a time any study of law in the office
though I shall continue to study at home. My intuition is to teach before
commencing the practice of law. Went to Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s in the morning
with an advertisement for [the newspaper]. I am like a bark on the ocean without
a rudder. Everything looks dark & hopeless. I scarcely know what to do. I
have no means to embark upon any business whatever, but I will hope ever &
put my trust in Him who is able & willing to guide and protect. Got a letter
from Chum [Lewis] Moss. Told [Nathaniel] Davis
that I intended to leave.
Sunday.
Quite a pleasant day. Went to church. [James] Rankine preached extempore today.
Wrote a letter to John Fulton. Evening, went over to hear Miss Spronger. Called
at the store to see George Stratton. Read a letter from [cousin] Lucy
[Stratton]. She speaks of his going up to Newfield to [their brother] Edwin’s
birthday with four others. Ed, at camp meeting, asked me to go with George &
take [Lyman] Truman’s team but she said nothing of it. In fact, it seems as if
they did not want me to come – or [at least] I get it from the tenor of the
letter. I felt exceedingly vexed, especially at other remarks she made. She said
she “hoped I bore the disappointment of not seeing her at camp meeting like a
‘marter.’” I told George to
tell [his sister that,] “I didn’t bear it at all like that ‘marter’”
It seems that she has a particular male friend at Trumansburgh. Good. She needs
all she can get. Ma sick & sent for the doctor. I felt rather miserable for
I expected more of them at Stratton’s, but they are like everyone else – selfish.
Commenced
working at home cutting corn. Hard work & blistered my hands terribly. Read
a little law, but feel too sleepy to do much.
Cut
buckwheat in forenoon & put up fence. Evening, read & talked &
wrote. Had such a joyous time with Louise [Rice]. She is a gay girl. Talked over
some of the old school days & plays such as “Tit Tat Tow, 3 in a row”,
“Five & Geese”, “Puzzles”, “Shuttle Cock”, “Battle One”,
“Entry Mentry”, “Pease Porridge Hot”, & such like, “Rotten
Eggs”. Been writing some rhyming
but can’t find a line. Pa said one thing which I had not heard since boyhood,
“As I went over London
Bridge, I found me a 4 pence happening and I bought me a kidd.” Also,
Caffee
had a son born
Looks like ye daddy oh
Bowy shins & crooked toes
Top ye head the wooley grows.
Rainy
day. Louise Rice went from here for
good. Gathered a few butternuts. Studied & wrote some. Went to Owego. Staid
a short time. I feel decidedly bad today.
Another
gloomy & rainy day. How I do wish that the clouds would clear away and give
us a little sunshine. Gloomy without & still gloomier within. I feel as if I
had neither friend or hope. Went to town in the afternoon with the team. Read,
studied & wrote.
Went
to town. Saw Wash
Gladden. Said he had almost given up the idea of having a school & is going
to write. I think I will try the business for a time & see if anyone will be
willing to pay anything [for my work]. I showed the piece I wrote to our folks
today. Afternoon, cut corn. Studied, read & wrote.
Looked
lowering in the morning, but it was pleasant enough to finish cutting corn. Anna
[Fiddis] & Ruth G.
here in the afternoon. Shucked nuts part of the afternoon and evening. Johnny [Griffing
was] playing with his shadow. Dick said that Steve was so ragged that he would
be whipped to death in a windy day. Been writing on a poetical piece.
Sunday.
In the morning it looked as if it might rain. The hills round about, in the
north and west, were storm brewing, from the hazy mist through which was
streaming lines of showers, which hung about thin peaks. Went to church. Wrote
in the afternoon. Evening, went to church. [James] Rankine preached an excellent
sermon. He undoubtedly endeavored to beautify it as much as possible. Evening
read in Spalding’s Literature. Started a subject for a future essay on
Superstition & laid out a plan for a story, which will be merely
descriptive. I have not heard of [any teaching] situations yet. Austin
did not write & he uses me meanly & ungentlemanly.
Pleasant
day. Built fires forenoon. Gathered chestnuts in afternoon. Girls went with us.
[My brother] Steve took them to town in the evening. My part was 35 cents; we
got $1.20 [in all. My cousin] George Stratton was here in the evening.
Warm
& pleasant day. It was a real golden autumnal day. Gathered chestnuts in the
forenoon. Lucy & Anna [Fiddis] were here in the afternoon. Threshed wheat.
In the evening, read & wrote & talked with Lucy. The fog rose from the
[Susquehanna River] valley until you could see the plain beneath with the dark
canopy above, moving & rolling in fantastic shapes; here light streaming in
& through grotesquely, here a somber shade. The evening [was] all golden
& purple, beautifully typifying the fulsome harvest time. Lucy spoke of [her
travels to Kentucky
and] the character of the Southern people. They are hospitable & kind, but
do not want to be disputed in their ancient privileges & institutions. One
old lady [of] 73 years noted for her eccentricity – in fact, one which runs
through the whole family – used to whip her children regularly as a duty and
she said that she noticed that they looked more thoughtful than before. The same
[woman] was walking by a lake with her husband [when she] jumped in and came
very near being drowned. She was at a table with such a number [of guests] and
during a pause in the conversation, she laughed. On being asked the cause, she
said she had been thinking what a difference there was betwixt noses.
Forgetfulness is another defect.
Cloudy
and rained a little in the morning. Threshed wheat & cleaned up. Lewis &
his wife parted. C. Abbott, her guardian & one who caused the trouble.
Afternoon, made fence. When I came home Charles Goodrich
and two Miss Giles [were here]. I did not know him at first. Sleepy all the
evening. Saw what color the trees are when frost bitten:
Hickory
– yellow & light brown; Chestnut – same; Maple – yellow & red;
Oak – red & brown; Elms – yellow; Iron-wood – red; Basshood –
yellow; Ash – red & yellow; Butternut – yellow & brown.
Pleasant
day, rather cold in the morning. Raked up buckwheat a little while. Went to
Barnes’ to see Lem
who had been lately killed on the railroad while drunk. He was a frightful
object – mouth open, eyes sunken, livid & ghastly. Blood was tricking out
of his ears and the top of his head & back of neck. It fairly made me sick
and faint to see him. There was a black-purple tinge like mortification. One
finger was chopped off. Wrote in answer to an advertisement [for a teacher] in Easton, Connecticut. Afternoon, went to the [Tioga
County] fair. Nothing very good. Saw [J. A.] Prindle
& had a talk with him.
Cool
but pleasant day. Went to the fair. Received a letter from
Geneva
stating that Chester Roy
was dead. Surprised much and felt bad. Went up from Aunt Lucy [Fiddis]’s with
[cousin] Lucy [Fiddis].
