The America That Used to Be: From the Diary of John Davis Long

DECEMBER, 1922

EDITED BY LAWRENCE SHAW MAYO

FATHER IN HEAVEN, BLESS HIM: GRANT HIM LIFE AND HEALTH AND GUIDANCE BY THY SPIRIT; DO FOR HIM, I BESEECH THEE, INFINITELY MORE THAN AN EARTHLY FATHER CAN DO. SAVE HIM FROM THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS OF ANY EXAMPLE WHICH THOU DOST NOT APPROVE; LEAD HIM IN PATHS OF WISDOM, VIRTUE, USEFULNESS, PEACE, JOY, THAT HIS LIFE MAY BE SPENT IN HIGH AND NOBLE ACTS OF OBEDIENCE TO THEE, AND LOVE TO MAN. GRANT, O GOD, THIS MY HUMBLE FERVENT PETITION FOR THY GOODNESS’ SAKE. [Written by ZADOC LONG in his son’s boyhood Journal.]

I, JOHN DAVIS LONG, son of Zadoc Long, of Buckfield, in the county of Oxford, and State of Maine, being nine years old, this day commence a journal of my life. I hope my life will be so, by the help of my Father in Heaven, that I shall have to record no important crimes or errors in my conduct. I like to keep a journal, and hope it will be useful to me. I shall keep account of the weather, and of family occurrences, and of matters and things which shall seem most interesting and worthy of the rememberance. The weather, this winter, has been very mild, and we have had but little snow. ’T is good sleighing now

These words were written by a small boy in a large book, on the morning of Sunday, February 13, 1848. In later years this small boy became successively Governor of Massachusetts and Secretary of the Navy, and was for almost two generations a favorite figure in the life of New England. His father, Zadoc Long, was one of the leading men in the little town of Buckfield, and the family lived in a comfortable, two-and-a-half storied house, of the kind that is happily so common throughout the older settled parts of the northeastern states. Having kept a store in the village for a number of years, Zadoc Long had retired at an early age, in easy circumstances, but with uncertain health.

For a while thereafter he turned his attention to politics. In 1838 the Whigs in his district nominated him for Congress, but failed to elect him. Two years later, however, he was chosen a presidential elector, and cast his vote for ‘Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.’ The Democrats in Oxford County so greatly outnumbered the Whigs, that it is doubtful if Mr. Long could ever have succeeded in politics there. He was interested in public affairs, but he was no politician. He was content to be a conservative, useful, upright citizen of Buckfield, recognized to be one of the most cultivated men in the State of Maine. He read thoughtfully, talked easily, and now and then wrote verses which appeared in the papers.

John’s middle name came from his mother, who was Julia Temple Davis before her marriage. At the time when the diary begins, the household consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Long, their younger daughter Persis Seaver, — aged nineteen, — and the two boys, Zadoc, Jr., and John Davis. An elder daughter, Julia Davis, had recently married, and now made her home in Winchendon, Massachusetts. This is, perhaps, sufficient introduction to Buckfield in general, and to the Long family in particular. How they lived and what they talked about will be revealed in the small boy’s journal.

Not content with the impressive preamble which he composed that winter morning in 1848, John returned to his congenial task in the afternoon.

‘I have been to church. Mr. Foster, universalist, preaches. I attend school, and study grammar, arithmetic, and geography. My sister Julia Davis was married last Dec. I have read the Bible almost through, in course. I read a chapter every day, and three every Sunday; and when I get through, mother is to give me a knife, a wallet, and a sack coat for next summer. Father is to give me a dollar.

Monday, February 14, 1848. — Very pleasant morning. Zadoc has gone after the washwoman, and wears father’s buffalo sack. I am reading Esq. John Loring’s library. Father is not willing I should read novels until I shall have read very many other books, and until I am older. I shall read Scott’s Ivanhoe next summer. Old Mrs. Cole died yesterday. She has been sick with the consumption for several years; her funeral will be at 1 o’clock, at the meeting-house, this afternoon, and I am going with mother to the funeral. Afternoon. — Aunt Persis Gross and cousin Newton Gross came here in a sleigh this afternoon. Aunt Persis will go to the funeral. Monday Evening, February 14. — Have been to the funeral. Mr. Haze, Freewill Baptist, preached the funeral sermon. Mr. Butler took tea with Mr. Lincoln Cummings here. Persis Seaver and Mr. Cummings have gone to a dance at the hall.

Tuesday, February 15. — A clear and windy morning. Mr. Lincoln Cummings and Persis Seaver are playing Backgammon. Mr. Brown and his wife are gone to Bangor to see their daughter Mary Ann and her little boy. The folloing rhymes I sent to my sister Julia. Father helped me compose them.

Afternoon. — I did not go to school this afternoon. I have been sawing wood, and mother says I sawed her a nice parsel. Last night one of Luton Farrar’s horses got loose and Zadoc had to get up and hitch the horse again. Lincoln Cummings has gone home to Paris.

Wednesday, February 18. — A very pleasant morning. Father says, ‘Fear not to have every action of jour life open to inspection of mankind. A nicer observer than man sees all that you do.’ Father says I must remember this. I think I shall go to Paris this afternoon.

Afternoon. I shall not go to Paris, for father says it is too cold for me. I was next to the foot this forenoon in my class at school and I got next to the head spelling the word despair.

Thursday, February 17. — A clear, cool, beautiful, healthy morning. Father is going into his woods, this morning, to see the loggers. This afternoon, he and mother will go down to Uncle Isaac Ellis’s in Turner. It is good sleighing. It has been good sleighing, now, about 2 weeks. Before that, almost all the time, people traveled with wheels. Father has not got any wood this winter, but expects to get some next week off of his own lot. I saw wood sometimes for the cook-stove. Mr. Hesekiah Atwood keeps our school. Mr. Zury Robinson, who kept it the first part of the winter, was sick & went home. I liked him for a schoolmaster. I like Mr. Atwood, too.

Afternoon. . . . Zadoc has gone to school now, to recite his French lesson to Mr. Atwood, and has left the whole house to me, and I have built a fire, waiting for mother and father to come home and warm them. There is a cotillion school to-night. Mr. Eliot plays. The managers are Oscar Gardiner and Orvile Bridghum. The cotillion school was to keep twelve evenings, and now it is most done. I shall go into the cotillion school to-night.

Friday, February 18. — A morning like a number which we have had, most delightful. Mr. Benjamin Cummings called here last night, and we expect him here this morning to take a note to Persis, who is at Paris. It is good sleighing now, but I don’t think it will be long unless we have another snowstorm pretty soon. The little school finished yesterday, and I think ours will to-day or to-morrow.

Saturday, February 19. — The good weather, and good sleighing are continued. Father is churning, and mother is clearing away the breakfast. Zadoc has gone to Mr. Jonathan Buck’s, to get a tripe. Persis Seaver is at Mr. Stephen Emery’s at Paris. Our school closed yesterday. . . .

The United States are at war with the Republic of Mexico. James H. Polk is President of the United States. Elected by the Democratic party, or the Loco-foco party, as it is reproachfully called. The whig, or federal party, as it is sometimes called by the Democratic party, are opposed to the war. Father is opposed to the war, and says it is unjust and wicked, and that it will prove a curse to this nation. John W. Dana is Governor of this State, chosen by the Loco-foco party. The whigs talk about Henry Clay for the next president.

Sunday, February 20. — A pleasant morning. It looks some like snow. We have had so many warm days, the sleighing is almost gone. I have written a letter to my sister Julia, who lives in Winchendon, Massachusetts. I have read in the Bible, and in the 19th Chapter of Acts it says that miracles were performed by Paul, by which diseases were healed and evil spirits cast out. Some of the bad Jews undertook to do the same things, calling over them possessed of evil spirits the name of Jesus. And the evil spirit said, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are ye? And the man that had the evil spirit leaped upon the vagabond Jews and overcame them, and they fled naked and wounded. I love to read the Bible. It is the best book in the world, because it is the word of God our Lord.

Monday, February 21. — The snow fell last night, two inches deep, and will help the sleighing. The storm has cleared away, and the weather is very pleasant again. Zadoc has gone to the west part of the town to get some lard for mother, and James Jewett has gone with him, to hold the horse. There are 225 inhabitants in this village. There are 36 dwelling houses in this village, 1 church, 1 common schoolhouse, one High School house, six stores, 2 blacksmith’s shops, 1 carpenter’s shop, 2 wagon shops in which the machinery goes by water, 1 cabinet shop with water machinery, 1 Tin shop, a room for making powder kegs by water, 8 shoemaker’s shops, 2 tailor’s shops, 1 grist mill with four running stones, 1 starch factory, 1 Hoe factory in which the machinery goes by water, 1 tavern, 2 saw mills, 1 clothing shop, 1 carding shop, 3 lawyer’s offices. The Portland stage comes here 3 times a week, and the stage from Augusta to Friburg passes through here four times a week. 400 dozen of hoes are made here this winter. Uncle and Aunt Ellis came here with a horse and sleigh. I have been splitting wood this forenoon, and Zadoc sawed some, I like to split wood.

Tuesday, February 22. — Cloudy and warm. Last night the Northern Lights shone out as if a house was on fire. There is a Temperance meeting.

Wednesday, February 23. — Cloudy and damp. It snows a little and is very warm. Father has bought a suit of clothes for Zadoc; broadcloth for a sack coat, kersemere for some pants, and a silk vest. Persis Seaver is still at Paris. We received a letter from Julia last night, and she has had a tooth out. Father has not got any wood out yet, but expects some to-morrow. Father cut my hair this morning.

Thursday, February 24. — A change in the weather; very pleasant, but colder. Father has borrowed me an little axe of my cousin Carrol Loring, and if it suits me, will buy it for me. Father expects some wood to-day, and I shall chop with my little axe then. Father says I am to chop with my little axe, but never split with it, but take the old axe to split with.

Sunday, February 27. — Cloudy and pleasant, but cold. I have been reading the 24 chapter of Acts, about Paul, who was brought before the governor and accused of being a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition, and a ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes, etc. And Paul answered to this accusation boldly and eloquently. Paul was a learned man and a fearless Christian, and could defend his faith as well as anybody. I love to read his speaches.

Monday, February 28. — Cold, clear and healthful. We rose early, and milked. Eat our breakfast — told our dreams. Zadoc dremped an Indian chased him with a bloody knife. I dreamed I milked the cow, — that her bag was between her fore legs.

Wednesday, March 1. — To-day is the first day of Spring, and it is one of the Most blustering days that we have had this winter. . . . There is a report in the paper of a treaty of peace with Mexico: and the United States are to give Mexico fifteen millions of dollars. I hope this report is true and that the treaty will be ratified. According to this treaty, Mexico is to be discharged from her debt to the people of the U. States. And then the U. States will have about half the territory of Mexico. The boundary line will begin at the mouth of the river Rio Grande, three leagues into the Gulf of Mexico; then up to the southern boundary of New Mexico: across to the first branch of the river Gila; from thence to the river Colerado, & to the town of St. Diego, giving the U. States all Upper California and a port on the Pacific Ocean.

Friday, March 3. — A snowstorm. It seems more like winter than like Spring. John Quincy Adams, member of Congress, died at Washington on the twenty-third of last month, aged eighty-one — just as old as Grandmother Nelson was when she died. He fainted in his seat, and died in the Speaker’s room, from old age. He has been president four years, and has been in public service more than any other man in the United States; he was a whig, and much respected by all parties. He was a Christian, and did all his public and private duties faithfully, and in fear of God. Father says he wishes all our public men were as good as he was. His last words were, ‘This is the end of earth.’

Saturday, March 4. — A very blustering day and the wind blows the snow into great drifts. Uncle Lucius Loring will start for Boston to-day. Persis wants to know if I am done writing, for she wants to clean the room. Mr. Jordon will haul six more cords, and that will make twenty cords of wood. Father is to give him five shillings a cord for hauling it & cutting it in the woods.

Sunday, March 5. — Another snowstorm. Grandfather Long staid here last night. He told us all about the ships, for he was once a sailor.

Tuesday, March 7. — A pleasant morning. Our private school begins to-day. Mr. Hesikieh Atwood keeps it. Last night I came very near burning up the house. I went into a closit in Grandmother’s room to get my shoes; and then father, mother, and I were sitting in the sitting-room, and we smelt a strange smell, and father got up and went into the closet and it was all on fire. He got water & put it out.

Wednesday, March 8. — A very pleasant springlike morning. ... I asked father how to parse the following line, ‘My native land, farewell!’ Father says land is a noun in the nominative case, independent, & farewell, an interjection. Dr. Johnson calls farewell an adverb. Walker calls it an interjection, & father thinks Walker is right.

Saturday, March 11.—A clear cool but pleasant morning. Uncle Lucius Loring has got home and brought Persis Seaver some cloth to make her a dress. Father has been summoned to-day by the State, to attend as a witness the trial of Valorous Cooledge at Augusta for murder.

Sunday, March 12. — . . . Persis is preparing to go and see Julia. She has got her a new dress, but it don’t suit her very well.

Monday, March 13. — A very pleasant morning. Father started for Augusta this morning. Olivia Records is here cutting a dress for Persis. She is deaf and dumb, and has been to the Asylum.

Wednesday, March 15. — A pleasant but windy morning. There is to be a party in the hall to-night: it is the last night of the cotillions. The players are Mr. Watterman, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Weeks.

Thursday, March 16. — A very cold day. I went to the dance last night, and had first-rate music.

Saturday, March 18. — A snowstorm. Father is still at Augusta, and we expect a letter from him to-day.Afternoon. — I have had a letter from father in which he gives us a very interesting account of the trial. We see by the paper that a treaty of peace with Mexico is ratified. Father says the treaty is not just as he should have it — he would have less Mexican territory, and none of the population.

Monday, March 20. — A very pleasant, beautiful, delightful springlike morning. It is one of the pleasantest days we have had this Spring, or winter. Grandfather came here to eat some dinner with mother and me. Zadoc saw Doctor Cooledge, who thought father would not be home from the trial till the last of this week, this morning; he is Uncle to Valorous.

Tuesday, March 21. — A pleasant springlike morning. We some expect father home to-day from Augusta. We shall all bee glad to see him. Mother and Persis are quilting. Mrs. Morrell has been here helping them a little.

Wednesday, March 22. — A very pleasant but windy morning. We were disappointed in not seeing father yesterday, but we shall expect him to-day. I hope he is well, and we shall be glad to see him. Mother and Zadoc have gone down to Grandfather Long’s. We are all very anxious to hear the result of the trial. Many believe he is guilty, but will not be convicted.

Thursday, March 23. — Cloudy and colder. We were not disappointed this time at not seeing father, for he came home last night. Zadoc and I have been chopping wood, but the woodpile don’t seem to diminish much. We have recieved news that there is a revolution in France and that Louis Philip, the king, has been driven from the throne, and the people have proclaimed a Republic.

Friday, March 24. — A pleasant, cool morning. Zadoc and I are chopping wood. This month has been as stormy and cold as any month we have had this winter, and as much snow has fallen as in all the rest of this winter. Now the snow is going off, and the hills are bare, and the traveling is bad. Father left his gold pencil at the Augusta house. Father and I are going down to Grandfather Long’s today, I guess. V. Coolidge is convicted.

[At this point the diarist’s recital of events, local, national, and foreign, is interrupted by an entry of a quite different nature, written in a mature, well-formed hand.]

My son, I have looked over what you wrote in your journal during my absence, and find the matter well enough, but the penmanship is not good. You must take more pains. Do not blot your book. Let the spaces between your words be as equal as possible; also, between your letters. Always so place your book upon the table or desk, that your marks will all slant in one direction, and that you can rest your arm. Never write with a hair in the point of your pen. Sit or stand erect, with your chest thrown out as much as possible, in front, to prevent injury to your health. Try to observe all these rules, my dear boy, never inserting anything in your journal that you will ever be ashamed to read (I omitted to add that your letters must be made exactly upon the ruled line, & that your long letters must all be as nearly as can be, of a length, & never extend but half-way between the lines, it being a sort of trespass to extend them any farther), and your Diary, which I value so much, will appear better. — Z. LONG.

Friday, March 31. — A warm, pleasant morning, and the snow goes off very fast. To-day is the last day of March. The peaple in France have opened a Republic and it has been acknowledged by Great Britain.

Saturday, April 1. — A pleasant morning. To-day is April-fool-day. The snow has almost gone and the traveling is very bad, and the stage don’t get up here till almost midnight. Mr. Webster has made a very eloquent speech against the war: he does not like the treaty very well. Dr. Coolidge has been handcuffed, and carried to State Prison at Thomastown.

Monday, April 3. — . . . I was ferruled for chewing boxberry leaves at school.

Thursday, April 6. — . . . Father is reading N. P. Willis’s Pencilings during his travel in France, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Turkey and England.

Wednesday, April 12. — Cloudy. Mr. Arad Jordan is chopping wood for us. Mr. Lampson is here taking daguerreotype likenesses. Revolution is going on in Austria. Louis Philippe’s property in France is confiscated. He was the richest man in the world. There is a civil war in Central America.

Thursday, April 13. — Cloudy and rainy. To-day is fast day. The people are blasting the ledge in the road opposite Mr. Allen’s wagon-shop. They just have made a seam-blast that jarred the houses, and throwed off pieces of rock that would weigh 30 tons. I am going to have my daguerreotype likeness taken this morning. Father wants me to stand up when it is taken, in my green sack coat, buttoned up, with my right hand in the outside pocket, leaning my left elbow upon the light stand, holding in my left hand my ball. Grandmother Long is here, and father will have her likeness taken.

Saturday, April 15. — A very warm and pleasant morning. Grandfather and grandmother and Zadoc and I have had our daguerreotype likenesses taken. Father paid for them all. The nations of Europe seem to be in [a] state of revolution for Republics.

Sunday, April 16. —. . . I have been reading the Bible in the first Corinthians, where it says that God raised up the Lord. I suppose that the Lord means Jesus Christ.

Monday, April 17. — A very pleasant morning. Our school finished today, on account of having few scholars and his folks being sick. Mr. Giles Morrell is here chopping wood for us. Father has bought his horse; father says it is as black as ink, long tail, loose-ribbed, head and nose a little more like a horse’s than a Birkshire bore’s, neck protruding from his shoulders downward: a lean, lazy, slab-sided, flat-footed Rosanante.

Tuesday, April 18. — A very cold and windy morning. Mr. Giles Merrell of Hebron is here chopping wood for us. Zadoc has been riding our horse, and likes him very well. Mr. Lamson has as many daguerreotype likenesses as he can do.

Sunday, April 23. — A very pleasant morning. I have not written in my journal for a few days. Zadoc and Asa Atwood and I went a-fishing yesterday up to Basin Falls, and Zadoc catchcd one of the largest trouts that was ever catched in this town.

I have been reading in the first Corinthians about Paul’s advice. Paul was an old bachelor, and he did not think that it was best to marry; and he said, if a man prayeth with his head covered he dishonored his head, and if a woman prayeth with her head uncovered, she dishonoreth the head.

Saturday, April 29. — A rain-storm. I went down last night to see the boys spear suckers, and I got one, and father had it for his supper. Father has bought a new stair carpet for the front stairs, and a sofa and some mahogony stuffed chairs and some curtains for the parlor.

Sunday, April 30. — A pleasant, but windy morning. The revolutionary movement is pervading in Europe. The Last Steamer brings news that in England and Ireland the spirit of popular liberty is breaking out. The Government is making arrangements for military defence. The Queen Victoria and her family have moved to the Isle of Wight, it not being deemed safe for her to stay in London. The Repealers of Ireland seem to be making common cause with the Chartists of England, & it is probable that some blood will be shed before the disturbance is quelled.

Tuesday, May 2. — It rained all night and this morning and it rains now. Mr. Lamson was going away this morning, but it rained and he will not go unless it stops raining. General Scott, the commander-in-chief of our forces, has been recalled from the war with Mexico by President Polk, and the Loco-foco administration would like to put down General Scott and General Taylor because they are Whigs.

Wednesday, May 3. — A real rainstorm. Father is writing a letter to Julia Davis and Persis. There is a revolution for a Republic in Austria and England. The kings are giving up their power.

Thursday, May 11. — A real rainstorm. The grass begins to look green and the trees begin to leaf out. The Whigs talk some of nominating General Taylor, or Mr. Clay and others. The whigs in [the] Massachusetts legislature have recommended Mr. Webster to the national convention as a suitable candidate for President. Mr. Clay has been before the American people now almost a quarter of a century, or twenty-five years, and he is now seventy years old, and father thinks he had better not be candidate for President any more. The summer school will begin a week from next monday. Miss Maria Chase will keep the large school, and Miss Harriett Hawke will keep the small school.

Saturday, May 13. — ... Our furniture came up last night for the parlor.

Wednesday, May 17. — A beautiful morning. Aunt Thankful Long is here: she staid here last night. I am reading Scott’s Ivanhoe now, and father says, after I get it through, I must not read any more novels till I am older.

Sunday, May 21. — Cloudy and foggy. The apple trees are in blossom. Father bought the Life of Henry Clay yesterday, and gave it to Zadoc and me; and I am going to read it through. The Locos meet at Baltimore next monday to nominate a candidate for next President.

Monday, May 22. — ... I went to school this forenoon, and waited an hour, and over, but the mistress did not come.

[In the middle of this page, and quite without warning, the handwriting of Zadoc Long reappears in one brief emphatic sentence.]

‘John Davis, you must write better and plainer.’ To this the small boy replies, ‘I have no good pen.’

Friday, May 26. — A pleasant warm morning. Grandmother Long is here. Some men from Canton have joined with the men in this place and are going to view a railroad way from here to Farmington. They went right thro our field.

Sunday, May 28. — A warm pleasant morning. Father and mother and I have been up to Grandmother Nelson’s grave to see the snowball bush that we set out there. The Democratic party have nominated General Cass of Michigan for the next President.

I am reading in the Bible in the first and second chapters of Gallations: there is not much of anything to write. Mr. Walker will deliver a Temperance Lecture to-night. There will be a Sunday school next Sunday, and Zadoc organised it. I shall go. We had one last fall, but it was broke up and we did not have a very long one. . . . The whig State convention of this state have chosen Taylor delegates to go to the National Convention, and Elijah Hamblin for candidate for next Governor.

Tuesday, May 30. — A rain-storm. An engineer from New York is here to survey a route for a railway from here to Farmington. . . . General Scott was received with great display at N. Y., and says there will be peace with the Mexican Republic.

Saturday, June 10. — A warm pleasant morning. School is not kept all day. Some of the scholars declaimed, and I was one of the number; and some wrote compositions to-day. They wrote about scholars’ duties to their teacher; next Thursday they will write about a teacher’s duty to a scholar. Our snowball bush has blown and looks very handsome: it has become quite a large tree, and covers a good deal of ground.

Wednesday, June 14. — Windy morning. General Taylor has been Elected for next president by the National Convention.

Friday, June 16. — There is now a prospect of some kind of weather. I will not write any more till afternoon. This afternoon it is very dry and hot. It now begins to rain in a shower. There is a drawing-school here. Miss Olivia Record keeps it. I do not go. I should like to go; but Father will not let me go.

Saturday, June 17. — A very warm pleasant day. The treaty of peace has been ratified by both governments. I wrote a composition at school. It was the first one that I ever wrote at school.

Wednesday, June 21. — . . . I have begun to read Stephens’s Travels in Central America.

Thursday, June 22. — A warm pleasant morning. I fell down at school and cut my tongue very bad with my teeth.

Monday, June 26. — . . . Father has sold his horse to Mr. William Creasy for about 90 dollars.

Friday, June 30. — A foggy warm day. To-day is the last day of June. Mr. J. Bennett is fixing his store. Henry and Howard Taylor, Wallis Atwood and myself went a-strawberrying yesterday, and the whole of us got twenty-three qts. Henry got six quarts, Howard five, Wallis six, and myself six.

Saturday, July 1. — Cloudy and foggy. There are four candidates for President now. The Liberty party have nominated Mr. Hale of New Hampshire. The Whig party have nominated General Taylor of Louis[ian]a. The Democrats have nominated General Cass. A portion of the Democrats, called the Barn-Burner party, have nominated Martin Van Buren. The Liberal party are sometimes called the ‘one idea’ party, because they want slavery abolished. The whig party are opposed to Slavery, and opposed to war for conquest, and to the annexation of more territory. They believe that Congress have the power to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia, and in all the territories. They are opposed to the Veto Power. They are in favor of a protective tariff. The Democrat party, except the Barn-Burners, are in favor of annexation of territory. They deny the right of Congress to prohibit slavery in the territories. They are opposed to protection of Manufactures at home. The Barn-Burner party agree with the whigs on the subject of slavery, and the powers of Congress over [the] subject of Slavery.

Sunday, July 2. — Cloudy warm morning. Ambrose Buck got home from Canada last night with nine horses. Mr. Foster preaches at Union Chapel to-day. There is a Sunday School here now, and I have got my lesson for to-day. The Fourth of July is day after to-morrow. I expect to attend a Temperance Celebration at Turner on that day.

Monday, July 3. — A rain-storm today. It is a very rainy day, and I am afraid it will rain to-morrow. If it does not, I shall go to Turner; at Turner there will be two hundred boys and girls march to the Temperance Celebration, & I shall march with them, if I go down to Turner. I shall not go to school this afternoon, but stay at home, and write and read. . . . I am reading Mr. Stephens’s Travels in Central America, in Chipas and Yucatan and Yzabald.

Tuesday, July 4. — A cool, pleasant day. I got up at twelve o’clock this morning, and so did Zadoc, and we joined the boys who fired the Cannon and blowed the trumpets, and drummed on old tin pails, and made all the noise we could, so as to wake up the folks, every one of them. After breakfast father and Zadoc and I started for Turner. At Turner we saw two hundred and fifty boys and girls march. They had a bank of martial music and a choir of sacred music. They marched up to the grove, and there Reverend Mr. Butler delivered an oration on Temperence, which was first-rate. I then came home here to Buckfield, and staid here the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 24. — Very pleasant day. There is a great Political meeting off to Portland, composed of Locofocos who will not vote for Cass, and whigs who will not vote for Taylor, and the Abolitionist party, to nominate a new candidate for next President. This is one of my compositions. The subject is Intemperance. Intemperance is a great evil. It is a great evil because if we are made drunk by folks, we shall be led on to gambling; and then, perhaps, be led on to stealing, to get money to gamble with, and then lose that by gambling. After we lose that, we may murder someone for money; and then be found out and put into State’s prison, and then hung; all of this comes from intemperance. I hope there is no one at our school who will be a rum drinker; or a rum seller except when it is nesessarry for people to put on wounds that are very bad.

Portland, Sunday, August 29. — Very beautiful morning. I have been to meeting to-day to Baptist meetinghouse and heard Rev. Mr. Beacher preach the sermon. These are the words: ‘He that findeth his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life shall find it.’ I sat in the Barrells’ pew with George Barrell. Father and mother went to the third parish, and heard Rev. Mr. Dwight preach the sermon. We shall start away in the morning in the cars for Boston, and we shall stop at the Quincy House.