Village Life in America — 1866.—Freedman’s Fair—General Grant and Admiral Farragut Visit Canandaigua 1867.—Brother John and Wife Go to London—Lecture by Charles Dickens 1871.—Hon. George H. Stuart Speaks in Canandaigua—A Large Collection
1866 _February_ 13. --Our brother James was married to-day to Louise Livingston James of New York City.
_February_ 20. --Our society is going to hold a fair for the Freedmen, in the Town Hall.
Susie Daggett and I have been there all day to see about the tables and stoves.
We got Mrs. Binks to come and help us.
_February_ 21. --Been at the hall all day, trimming the room.
Mr. Thompson and Mr. Backus came down and if they had not helped us we would not have done much.
Mr. Backus put up all the principal drapery and made it look beautiful.
_February_ 22. --At the hall all day.
The fair opened at 2 p. m.
We had quite a crowd in the evening and took in over three hundred dollars.
Charlie Hills and Ellsworth Daggett stayed there all night to take care of the hall.
We had a fish pond, a grab-bag and a post-office.
Anna says they had all the smart people in the post-office to write the letters,--Mr. Morse, Miss Achert, Albert Granger and herself.
Some one asked Albert Granger if his law business was good and he said one man thronged into his office one day.
_February_ 23. --We took in two hundred dollars to-day at the fair.
We wound up with an auction.
We asked Mrs. George Willson if she could not write a poem expressing our thanks to Mr. Backus and she stepped aside for about five minutes and handed us the following lines which we sent to him.
We think it is about the nicest thing in the whole fair.
"In ancient time the God of Wine They crowned with vintage of the vine, And sung his praise with song and glee And all their best of minstrelsy.
The Backus whom we honor now Would scorn to wreathe his generous brow With heathen emblems--better he Will love our gratitude to see Expressed in all the happy faces Assembled in these pleasant places.
May joy attend his footsteps here And crown him in a brighter sphere."
_February_ 24. --Susie Daggett and I went to the hall this morning to clean up.
We sent back the dishes, not one broken, and disposed of everything but the tables and stoves, which were to be taken away this afternoon.
We feel quite satisfied with the receipts so far, but the expenses will be considerable.
In _Ontario County Times_ of the following week we find this card of thanks: _February_ 28. --The Fair for the benefit of the Freedmen, held in the Town Hall on Thursday and Friday of last week was eminently successful, and the young ladies take this method of returning their sincere thanks to the people of Canandaigua and vicinity for their generous contributions and liberal patronage.
It being the first public enterprise in which the Society has ventured independently, the young ladies were somewhat fearful of the result, but having met with such generous responses from every quarter they feel assured that they need never again doubt of success in any similar attempt so long as Canandaigua contains so many large hearts and corresponding purses.
But our village cannot have all the praise this time.
The Society is particularly indebted to Mr. F.
F.
Thompson and Mr. S.
D.
Backus of New York City, for their very substantial aid, not only in gifts and unstinted patronage, but for their invaluable labor in the decoration of the hall and conduct of the Fair.
But for them most of the manual labor would have fallen upon the ladies.
The thanks of the Society are especially due, also, to those ladies who assisted personally with their superior knowledge and older experience.
Also to Mr. W.
P.
Fiske for his valuable services as cashier, and to Messrs. Daggett, Chapin and Hills for services at the door; and to all the little boys and girls who helped in so many ways.
The receipts amounted to about , and thanks to our cashier, the money is all good, and will soon be on its way carrying substantial visions of something to eat and to wear to at least a few of the poor Freedmen of the South.
By order of Society, Carrie C. Richards, Pres't. Emma H. Wheeler, Sec'y. Mr. Editor--I expected to see an account of the Young Ladies' Fair in your last number, but only saw a very handsome acknowledgment by the ladies to the citizens.
Your "local" must have been absent; and I beg the privilege in behalf of myself and many others of doing tardy justice to the successful efforts of the Aid Society at their debut February 22nd.
Gotham furnished an artist and an architect, and the Society did the rest.
The decorations were in excellent taste, and so were the young ladies.
The eatables were very toothsome.
The skating pond was never in better condition.
On entering the hall I paused first before the table of toys, fancy work and perfumery.
Here was the President, and I hope I shall be pardoned for saying that no President since the days of Washington can compare with the President of this Society.
Then I visited a candy table, and hesitated a long time before deciding which I would rather eat, the delicacies that were sold, or the charming creatures who sold them.
One delicious morsel, in a pink silk, was so tempting that I seriously contemplated eating her with a spoon--waterfall and all.
[By the way, how do we know that the Romans wore waterfalls?
Because Marc Antony, in his funeral oration on Mr. Caesar, exclaimed, "O water fall was there, my countrymen!"
] At this point my attention was attracted by a fish pond.
I tried my luck, caught a whale, and seeing all my friends beginning to blubber, I determined to visit the old woman who lived in a shoe.
--She was very glad to see me.
I
bought one of her children, which the Society can redeem for ,000 in smoking caps.
The fried oysters were delicious; a great many of the bivalves got into a stew, and I helped several of them out.
Delicate ice cream, nicely "baked in cowld ovens," was destroyed in immense quantities.
I scream when I remember the plates full I devoured, and the number of bright women to whom I paid my devours.
Beautiful cigar girls sold fragrant Havanas, and bit off the ends at five cents apiece, extra.
The fair post-mistress and her fair clerks, so fair that they were almost fairies, drove a very thriving business.
It was altogether a "great moral show."
--Let no man say hereafter that the young ladies of Canandaigua are uneducated in all that makes women lovely and useful.
Anna Dickinson has no mission to this town.
The members of this Society have won the admiration of all their friends, and especially of the most devoted of their servants, Q.
E.
D.
If I had written that article, I should have given the praise to Susie Daggett, for it belongs to her.
_Sunday, June_ 24. --My Sunday School scholars are learning the shorter catechism.
One recited thirty-five answers to questions to-day, another twenty-six, another twenty, the others eleven.
Very well indeed.
They do not see why it is called the "shorter" Catechism!
They all had their ambrotypes taken with me yesterday at Finley's--Mary Hoyt, Fannie and Ella Lyon, Ella Wood, Ella Van Tyne, Mary Vanderbrook, Jennie Whitlaw and Katie Neu.
They are all going to dress in white and sit on the front seat in church at my wedding.
Grandmother had Mrs. Gooding make individual fruit cakes for each of them and also some for each member of our sewing society.
_Thursday, June_ 21. --We went to a lawn fete at Mrs. F.
F.
Thompson's this afternoon.
It was a beautiful sight.
The flowers, the grounds, the young people and the music all combined to make the occasion perfect.
_Note:_ Canandaigua is the summer home of Mrs. Thompson, who has previously given the village a children's playground, a swimming school, a hospital and a home for the aged, and this year (1911) has presented a park as a beauty spot at foot of Canandaigua Lake.
_June_ 28. --Dear Abbie Clark and Captain Williams were married in the Congregational church this evening.
The church was trimmed beautifully and Abbie looked sweet.
We attended the reception afterwards at her house.
"May calm and sunshine hallow their clasped hands."
_July_ 15. --The girls of the Society have sent me my flag bed quilt, which they have just finished.
It was hard work quilting such hot days but it is done beautifully.
Bessie Seymour wrote the names on the stars.
In the center they used six stars for "Three rousing cheers for the Union."
The names on the others are Sarah McCabe, Mary Paul, Fannie Paul, Fannie Palmer, Nettie Palmer, Susie Daggett, Fannie Pierce, Sarah Andrews, Lottie Clark, Abbie Williams, Carrie Lamport, Isadore Blodgett, Nannie Corson, Laura Chapin, Mary F. Fiske, Lucilla F. Pratt, Jennie H. Hazard, Sarah H. Foster, Mary Jewett, Mary C. Stevens, Etta Smith, Cornelia Richards, Ella Hildreth, Emma Wheeler, Mary Wheeler, Mrs. Pierce, Alice Jewett, Bessie Seymour, Clara Coleman, Julia Phelps.
It kept the girls busy to get Abbie Clark's quilt and mine finished within one month.
They hope that the rest of the girls will postpone their nuptials till there is a change in the weather.
Mercury stands 90 degrees in the shade.
_July_ 19, 1866. --Our wedding day.
We saw the dear little Grandmother, God bless her, watching us from the window as we drove away.
Alexandria Bay, _July_ 26. --Anna writes me that Charlie Wells said he had always wanted a set of Clark's Commentaries, but I had carried off the entire Ed.
_July_ 28. --As we were changing boats at Burlington, Vt, for Saratoga, to our surprise, we met Captain and Abbie Williams, but could only stop a moment.
Saratoga, 29_th.
_--We heard Rev. Theodore Cuyler preach to-day from the text, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world."
He leads devotional exercises every morning in the parlors of the Columbian Hotel.
I spoke to him this morning and he said my father was one of his best and earliest friends.
Canandaigua, _September_ 1. --A party of us went down to the Canandaigua hotel this morning to see President Johnson, General Grant and Admiral Farragut and other dignitaries.
The train stopped about half an hour and they all gave brief speeches.
_September_ 2. --Rev. Darius Sackett preached for Dr. Daggett this evening.
1867 _July_ 27. --Col. James M. Bull was buried from the home of Mr. Alexander Howell to-day, as none of his family reside here now.
_November_ 13. --Our brother John and wife and baby Pearl have gone to London, England, to live.
_December_ 28. --A large party of Canandaiguans went over to Rochester last evening to hear Charles Dickens' lecture, and enjoyed it more than I can possibly express.
He was quite hoarse and had small bills distributed through the Opera House with the announcement: MR.
CHARLES DICKENS
Begs indulgence for a Severe Cold, but hopes its effects may not be very perceptible after a few minutes' Reading.
Friday, December 27th, 1867. We brought these notices home with us for souvenirs.
He looks exactly like his pictures.
It was worth a great deal just to look upon the man who wrote Little Dorrit, David Copperfield and all the other books, which have delighted us so much.
We hope that he will live to write a great many more.
He spoke very appreciatively of his enthusiastic reception in this country and almost apologized for some of the opinions that he had expressed in his "American Notes," which he published, after his first visit here, twenty-five years ago.
He evidently thinks that the United States of America are quite worth while.
1871 _August_ 6. --Under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A.
, Hon. George H. Stuart, President of the U. S.
Christian Commission, spoke in an open air meeting on the square this afternoon and in our church this evening.
The house was packed and such eloquence I never heard from mortal lips.
He ought to be called the Whitefield of America.
He told of the good the Christian Commission had done before the war and since.
Such war stories I never heard.
They took up a collection which must have amounted to hundreds of dollars.
1872
