C. and the dean were not able to come home with me to spend the night, to my great regret. They found at the last moment that it would be necessary to return to Gregory this evening.
Monday.
I sat and sewed, not feeling up to much exertion. I finished the gray muslin frock and it is sweet. Then I darned stockings. If anything can make you more conceited than darning stockings I don't know what it is unless it be early rising. I think if by great and sustained effort I ever became an early riser I would become insufferable. All my life that has been my greatest ambition, but I never succeed in rising early for more than a few weeks at a time under pressure.
September 25.
Danton was to be married this evening and specially invited Chloe, and I saw she wanted to go, so I told her she must go, that it was only due Danton, as a refused suitor for her hand, that she should attend the wedding. She said she did think it would be a "good polish" on her part to be present, but that she could not bear to leave me alone from early in the afternoon until late at night. She said:—
"Dem say de weddin' gwine be at fo', but nigga fo' mean buckra seven! Dem neber will reddy by fo'."
However, I insisted and persisted until she went. I kept Patty Ann as long as I could by going to the barn-yard to measure the peas and telling her she must take charge of the house and yard until I got back. There were about twenty hands. Some wanted to pick for one-third of the peas, some for money. It is very hard to divide peas evenly. I find the easiest way is to weigh the peas and then divide the weight. It really takes less time than any other way, for it is accurate and I can get through weighing and dividing up 1500 pounds of peas among twenty hands in no time.
When I got back from the barn I had to let Patty Ann go. Then I went to see after Pocahontas, my beautiful young cow, who is ill. I gave her a dose of aconite to-day and had Jim rub her with liniment. She is strangely affected; her fore legs seem almost paralyzed and cross each other when she walks, or rather steps, for she is afraid to walk more than a dozen steps at a time; then down she goes.
Her countenance is bright, however, which makes me hopeful. It would be a dreadful blow to lose her. R. L. A., who knows about cows, told me not to take less than $65 for her in the spring before she had her first calf. The calf is so fine I have named her Beauty.
I gave Pocahontas a large bundle of fresh cut grass and a bucket of water, for Jim has gone to the wedding too. To my delight when I put the grass down a little beyond her reach, giving her only one handful to taste, she got up with great difficulty, resting some time on her knees, swaying so that I thought she must keel over, but at last she got to her feet and stood trembling for a little before she could make the one step necessary to reach the grass. It seems to me she has had a severe blow on her left shoulder and the left leg is almost paralyzed. She puts all her weight on the right.