Camp Hain

012 Unraveling 'A Gathering of Days': Chapters 1-6 Summary

• Tia Hain • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Unraveling 'A Gathering of Days': Chapters 1-6 Summary

In this episode, Tia Hain takes listeners through the first six chapters of Joan W. Bloss's historical novel, 'A Gathering of Days'. The story unfolds through the journal of 12-year-old Catherine Hall, who recounts her life in 1830s New Hampshire, addressing themes of loss, resilience, and the intricacies of pioneer life. Catherine's entries introduce us to her family, friends, and a mysterious 'phantom'. The episode captures the essence of Catherine’s daily struggles and joys, shedding light on life during that era. Join Tia as she summarises this poignant narrative, interweaving her unique perspectives from homeschooling and life adventures.

Internet Grandpa reading A Gathering of Days - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZCA-2dXdcM&list=PLLg_HRKca7SKUw8PXt91C470c-BqqO5GI&index=1&t=0s

00:00 Introduction to A Gathering of Days
00:33 Welcome to Camp Hain
01:13 Overview of the Book and Podcast Structure
02:06 Summary of Chapters 1-6
03:18 Chapter 1: Catherine's Early Journal Entries
07:04 Chapter 2: The Phantom Appears
08:52 Chapter 3: Thanksgiving and Aunt Lucy
13:44 Chapter 4: The Phantom's Plea
17:04 Chapter 5: Christmas and New Year
20:27 Chapter 6: Snowstorm and Community Effort
24:27 Conclusion and Call to Action

012 A Gathering of Days Summary - Chapters 1-6

Tia: [00:00:00] Imagine stepping back in time to the year 1830, where every snowfall, every hardship, and every joy is carefully recorded in the pages of a young girl's journal. In Joan W. Bloss's A Gathering of Days, 12 year old Catherine Hall shares her daily life in a small New Hampshire town. Facing change, loss, and the challenges of growing up.

But beneath the simplicity of her words lies a powerful story of resilience, kindness, and the weight of difficult choices. Join me as we unravel the first six chapters of this timeless historical novel.

Welcome to Camp Hain, the adventures of a Catholic family that homeschools, public schools, online schools, and has one super obsessed with baseball kid. Currently, I, Tia Hain, am a Classical Conversations Challenge A Director. A lot of this podcast is related to that for now. I upload a new podcast every Friday, other videos on YouTube as well, and I also post videos about math, mostly algebra, because that's what I'm tutoring right now, [00:01:00] and our life.

We love our adventures, so come along for the ride, and click subscribe or follow if you are a homeschooler or are thinking about homeschooling, or even if this content just interests you. I've said the things, now let's move on into the content.

Catherine Cabot Hall is the 13 and a half year old protagonist of the book, A Gathering of Days. This is the book we are currently reading in Challenge A of our Classical Conversations group. This book is written in 18 chapters like I did with The Secret Garden, I am going to be summarizing what the book is about.

If you would like someone to be reading the book, I am sure Internet Grandpa has a version of it on YouTube. I will go ahead and link that in the show notes. 

Since it is divided into 18 chapters, I am going to do 3 episodes . That's going to be six chapters per episode if you got your math right there.

Tia: The first episode, today's episode number 12, we are going to be summarizing chapters 1 through 6. Next [00:02:00] week's episode will be summarizing chapters 7 through 12. And then of course, the last six chapters will be the episode after that.

But first, let's get into chapters 1 through 6 of A Gathering of Days. 

 On the back of the book, it gives a nice description here. So I'll just read that real quickly. It says, so begins this journal of a girl coming of age in the 19th century New Hampshire area. Catherine records both the hardships of pioneer life and its many joys, even as she struggles with her mother's death and father's eventual remarriage, Catherine's indomitable spirit makes this saga an oftentimes uplifting and joyous one. Quiet, yet powerful, this award-winning book is sure to touch all who read it.

I am most of the way through the book right now 'cause, I've been reading it so then I can therefore summarize it, and so far I've actually found it pretty interesting.

I like it. It is written in a journal type form. So you're getting days and dates and then bits and pieces that happen each day. But it does tell a [00:03:00] nice overall story. It's not like you or I would have if we just wrote a journal when we were 13 and a half years old. It's actually done and edited in a very nice story format.

It just happens to be broken up that way. And it does make it nice because you're only reading little chunks at a time instead of feeling like you're reading these giant chapters.

 The book starts out with Catherine living in Meredith, New Hampshire with her father and her younger sister. Her father has just gotten back from Boston, Massachusetts and he brought a journal for her to start using and that is what we are quote unquote reading as we read this book. 

The very first journal entry starts on October 17th, 1830. Catherine talks about her mother, Hannah, and how she has been gone for four years due to a fever she contracted. Then she introduces us to her younger sister, Mary Martha, whom she calls Matty throughout the book, M A T T Y. And then she introduces [00:04:00] us to Cassie Shipman, who is her best friend. She's a year older than Catherine, and she lives south of the Halls. Hall is Catherine's last name. Cassie has three brothers: David, Asa, and Willie.

 Catherine talks about just some general things that perhaps you or I would start off with ourselves if we were 13 and a half. She mentions that she wants to live in the house that her father built forever. She talks about how no harm has come to any of her family or the Shipmans in the time that they've lived there except for her mother getting sick. She really likes where she lives and then she mentions that she wants curly hair like her sister's and her mother's hair. 

From this we get to know that her mother had curly hair and her sister Matty inherited that hair, but Catherine did not. 

 More entries over the October month. She talks about how father told a story with a moral about lost hogs in the night . Someone went chasing [00:05:00] them. They thought they saw an apparition. That person went back in the morning because they got scared of the apparition when it was at night, but they went back in the morning to check things out. He talks about how intelligence prevailed because the person went back in the morning to check it out instead of just staying scared of it and found out it was just a funky stump of a tree and the way the branches were coming off of it, it made it look like it was an apparition.

Then Catherine talks about her father's brother, Uncle Jack. He's never married, but he stopped by during the month of October and he will stop by here and there. He doesn't live super close, but he lives around them.

 For the rest of chapter one, we have some November entries. So she talks about making Thanksgiving preparations. At the beginning of the month, they make gingerbread and cakes and plum pudding. They have a place to store them so they can actually start them that early. Catherine comments, her good clothes are getting a [00:06:00] bit snug on her and are getting passed on to her younger sister.

Mrs. Shipman, who is Cassie's mom, her best friend's mom, mentions to Catherine's father that her sister, the unmarried one, will be visiting. 

 We go to the entry from November 7th called the Sabbath. She just says the Sabbath so we know that's Sunday. Talking about Uncle Jack, her father, Catherine, and Matty. How they go to visit the Shipmans after church that day. There's a discussion between Uncle Jack and her father. They're talking about "bound boys" running away and whether you would turn him in or no.

That was the discussion that they were having. And then it goes a little bit further where she talks about one time while coming home from school with Cassie and Asa. Catherine saw a dark silhouette of a lanky man. Before she could get Cassie and Asa's attention to it, he was gone. Just note from now on, Catherine is going to [00:07:00] be referring to this tall lanky man that she saw as her phantom.

 We move on into chapter 2. The first date is November 10th. And then it says Catherine saw her phantom again. And also, Sophy Perkins, who is a girl that they go to school with there, a girl around the area that they live in. They all live a little bit outside of town, but they go into town for school.

Sophy Perkins says when she is 15, she will go to Lowell, Massachusetts to work in the mills. Then Catherine says that she would be terrified to be torn from all she loves. Obviously she does not like the idea of going to the mills to work. 

We have entry for November 16th. Joshua Nelson had to write 100 times to thine own self be true. Catherine explained a little bit how it is from William Shakespeare, and they're learning a bit about William Shakespeare. 

The entry for November 20th, Mrs. Shipman's sister arrives, the one that we talked about earlier. She [00:08:00] looks like Mrs. Shipman, but younger, and she brought gifts. She brought material to make things out of, and other things to make dresses.

Now it's November 22nd, and it says bad weather coming, so they were let out of, They were let out of school early. Catherine and Cassie talk about knitting socks. And then Sophy says something about liking Asa. Now the next day, November 23rd. It just says, So much snow, there was no school. 

 Then it talks about Thanksgiving. That's the next entry is Thanksgiving. They had it at the Shipman's. There was so much food, which I think we can all relate to. Mrs. Shipman's sister, Aunt Lucy is her name. Everybody is to call her Aunt Lucy. All the ladies had nice things added to their dresses from Aunt Lucy to brighten them up for Thanksgiving.

Now we move on to chapter three. The date is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 28th. The weather still bad, went to service twice. She makes a [00:09:00] note how the priest's dog barks at late comers and it is so cold that you hear bark puff, bark puff because of the air being so cold and the dog barking.

Next entry is Monday, November 29th. Brought writing book home to show father. Their writing book from school. She brought it home to show father, but she misplaced it on the way somehow. She only stopped once, so she hopes it is where she had stopped. 

The next entry is Tuesday, November 30th. Aunt Lucy came around. She had a leather strap from her luggage that broke and would or could father fix it? He asked if she was leaving soon, and she said, Oh my, no, no, no. Her voice went high. While father mended the strap, Matty stared at Aunt Lucy while Catherine, busied herself with her own mending to do. I think this is supposed to set up that the wife that father takes somewhere in the book, might be Aunt Lucy.

Then it says, after the strap was mended, and Aunt Lucy left, Matty [00:10:00] asked if father was going to marry Aunt Lucy. Sophy and her mother, so their friend Sophy, Sophy and her mother say he ought to, and then father said that they were doing just fine. 

The next entry is Wednesday, December 1st. The writing lesson book is still missing. The pond is frozen over so all the kids go skating. When the girls get tired, the boys break off big bows to pull the girls around as if they were on sleds. At one point, Sophy stumbles and everyone sees a piece of scarlet ribbon tied around her stocking. I guess this is supposed to mean something later on.

Thursday, December 2nd. Catherine finds her book, but she finds it in a very odd place. It is placed on top of a stone that serves as a boundary stone between the schoolhouse lot and the woods. But inside, scratched in charcoal, below Catherine's name, it says, Please miss, take pity, I am cold. Please [00:11:00] is spelled P L E E Z. And everything is in capital letters. And pity is spelled with two Ts. Catherine couldn't wait to tell Cassie and Asa all about it. 

The next entry is Friday, December 3rd. She couldn't do it on the way to school because Sophy met them. She couldn't do it on the way home because Matty had a cough so they had to go directly home. Matty got a chill and Catherine got the fire going and put a kettle on. When I said that she couldn't do it, she couldn't tell them about what happened with her book.

The next entry is Saturday, December 4th, then it says as she stepped outside in the morning, Catherine saw a piece of paper under a stone that said, wait at the rock. She knew it was Ace's writing, but she's like, what rock and when is she supposed to be there? The rock where the lesson book was? Is that where she's supposed to go?

Catherine hurried to school, very anxious, and waited until the bell rang and nothing happened. She had to walk in late, which of course was a total [00:12:00] embarrassment to her. Then at recess, the girls were passing by the boys, and Asa told Catherine as they passed each other, after school, in the same place.

Catherine says that there's more, but she can't write any more tonight, so she'll write more tomorrow. 

It says the next day, so she's finishing up the tale from Saturday, December 4th. This is what happened for the rest of Saturday. Catherine followed Asa into the woods. He showed her boot prints. They were made in soft ground and then frozen over. They're large prints with a wide stride. So it must be her phantom.

Then Catherine thought that her phantom was dark complected, which I think it's interesting that this is the first time that they actually bring that up. It doesn't mention it before in the book. I went back and double checked. 

 Asa starts speculating who her phantom could be. It could be a runaway slave, a runaway lad not liking his indenture, a thief, a man convicted, a wrongly convicted man, and our woods [00:13:00] is his only hope of freedom.

 Ace is going off about all the possibilities. Whomever he is, Asa said, he's cold and he needs our help. So who are we to judge? Catherine now knew that Asa had found the book at the rock because it shows that he knew that the person was cold, because remember in the book it said, please miss, take pity, I am cold.

But then Catherine talks about how it wasn't Asa's father that said turn him out and turn him in before, which interestingly enough in this entry it says turn him out and turn him over, but it was Catherine's father who had said it. Remember that discussion from a few entries ago. Catherine said that she just had to go home and really think.

 We're on to chapter four. The first entry is dated December 12th, Sunday, the Sabbath, it is one week later. Catherine couldn't talk to Cassie because her mother was with her the whole service and after. Catherine keeps thinking of the stranger. PLEEZ MISS. I am [00:14:00] cold. I am cold. Take pity. 

The next entry is Monday, December 13th. Some of the Shipmans' pies are missing. Presumed stolen. They were the ones saved after Thanksgiving. They have what's called a buttery where they can save things. And store them kind of like a freezer, what we'd use more as like a chest freezer. They were able to save some of their pies, and it had said that they would be good until March. 

Asa was presumed to be the guilty party. He protested a little, but took the thrashing anyway. Probably to protect the phantom. And Cassie still doesn't know about the phantom, because Catherine hasn't been able to talk to her. 

 The next entry is Tuesday, December 14th. When Catherine arrives at school, she could tell that Asa had told Cassie about the phantom and about how he was pleading in the book, what he had written in the book. Catherine could also tell her. The Cassie disapproved. 

Teacher Holt wrote on the board precepts for lessons. These are things that they're supposed to be copying [00:15:00] to practice their writing. One of them that he wrote on the board was: "Give to them that want." 

 Then he wrote a few more precepts. And then he wrote: "Speak the truth and lie not." 

Now Catherine is totally confused as to what she's supposed to do Because the first one she saw as a sign and then the last one was a sign going the opposite direction. 

Now Catherine protested to Cassie out loud because Cassie was trying to talk to her About what was going on and was giving her looks and so Catherine protested to Cassie out loud. She said, "But no lie was asked."

Well, Teacher Holt thought that it was Cassie that said it, so he made Cassie write 100 times: Teach me to do thy will. And then Cassie would not speak to Catherine on the way home. I mean, I wouldn't either. If my friend got me in trouble and I had to write something 100 times, I would probably not be speaking to her on the way home.

 The next entry is Tuesday, December 16th, and it says when Catherine and Cassie met again, each one begged [00:16:00] the other's forgiveness. Cassie said kindness must be the highest virtue. 

 Catherine felt guilty, Of course she did. We know that. But Cassie also felt guilty because she realized she was judging and not being kind.

 The next entry is Friday, December 17th. Catherine and Cassie found one of mother's quilts. That's one of Catherine's mother's quilts. That was a bit worn. They wrapped some sausage and apples and took it to the phantom's stone. Where they had found the book? They're calling that the phantom's stone.

They brought the lesson book with them. That way they had an excuse of sketching a tree for school if they got caught. Also, it would be a sign to the phantom if the phantom sees them. 

They tucked the blanket in the foot of a tree that was near the footprints that Asa had found before. And there was also remains of a fire. 

They met up with Asa and he asked if they had done it, which was put the blanket in the food in the tree.

And at this, Catherine just burst into [00:17:00] tears and Asa wiped them away.

Now we are on to chapter five. The first entry here is Thursday, December 23rd. The boys are ice skating on the pond and boast of going to where the thin ice is to drink water. Catherine then goes home and tells her father about this and he says he did the same thing when he was a kid. And he just kind of blows it off. And Catherine says that, well, she doesn't think that he would feel that way and blow it off if it was her that was the one doing it.

The next morning, Friday, December 24th, Catherine says that there's a note for her from Father talking about how it's easy to see the imperfections in others, but not so easy for ourselves. And there's a sketch of an ice skater on there. So she's not sure if this means father is saying that he himself was seeing the imperfections in others and not himself. Or if he was saying Catherine was seeing that. [00:18:00] It doesn't really say here. 

The next entry is Saturday, December 25th. They attend Christmas service. The church was very cold. Their dinner was bread and cider and some stored soup that they had.

 They kept talking about things being frozen in the buttery. I looked up what a buttery was. Some of the words in this story are going to be difficult because they're not words that we would use now. But, some of them, I can't even find if I look up the definition. You can kind of figure out what they mean based on how it's used.

So based on how they kept using buttery and what I could find for definition, it could be a small storeroom. That's what I am assuming is how it's being used here, because it seems like they're just storing food in there. But it also might be someplace that's cold or maybe it's cold because it's wintertime, so they can actually freeze things there.

 At the end of the entry, it says that they are mindful of Jesus and [00:19:00] Mary because it is December 25th. 

And then another entry is Monday, December 27th. She thought she saw her phantom, but it was just a stump. And Asa promises to go and check on the blanket to see if it was taken at all. 

The next entry is Wednesday, December 29th.

Tia: The quilt is gone, as well as any other sign of the phantom. Catherine prays that he has a safe journey and a safe end to his journey. And so by any other sign, that means there's no more sign of the fire. The footprints are wiped clean. Somehow he got rid of all those. She prays that he has a safe journey and that he has a safe end to his journey.

The next entry is Saturday, January 1st, the New Year. Father decides to make the dinner. Catherine works on her writing and Matty won't go up to bed alone. So she waits for Catherine because the girls go to bed upstairs and she's a little nervous about going up alone. 

The next entry is Monday, January 3rd, and it just says the Teacher Holt [00:20:00] read from a newspaper.

And then the next entry after that is Thursday, January 6th. It snowed again. The path from the house to the barn is the hardest to keep clear. Father would have put the barn closer, but mother didn't want it so close. She said it didn't look pretty. Now he has to do more work to keep the pathway clear from the house to the barn.

And then we are on to chapter 6, which is the last chapter that we are going to be summarizing in this podcast episode. The entry here is Friday, January 7th, and it says, Cassie, Asa, Matty, and Catherine all walk home from school together. Asa lamented about having to do math while the girls were excused because they were girls.

So in this time, it is thought the girls aren't very good at math, and so they don't have to do the harder math that the boys have to do. Obviously, we know that assumption is incorrect. 

Alright, Monday, January 10th, Teacher Holt had the students practice writing by choosing their own lines to write.

Catherine [00:21:00] chose the line, Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. They were practicing their writing, and they got to choose their own lines to practice. 

The next entry is Thursday, January 13th. Heavy snow for three days. There's no school until the road is cleared.

Catherine talks about turning her father's shirt and showing Matty how to turn a heel. Once again, I could not find the exact definition for it. I googled everything I could think of. So my guess is based off of how it was used. It probably means something like mending. Father brought in some wood to finish a chair that he had started years ago for their mother. He's decided to work on this project while the girls are working on mending the shirt and the shoe. 

The next entry is Friday, January 14th. The storm finally let up. Father thinks that they can clear the road tomorrow.

 It's interesting because they use the term breaking out for clearing the road, and I was a little confused at that one, tried looking it [00:22:00] up, couldn't find it. 

Funnily enough, today, the day I decided to record this podcast episode, we have been under a snowstorm here. I live in Northern, Idaho. I live in a kind of populous town in Northern, Idaho. But there are many small towns just outside of our town and people come into our town. A friend of mine that lives north about 20 minutes from us talked about how her husband was breaking out the road so the plow could get through to plow the road.

And I'm like, oh, okay So I kind of understand it now. I just thought that was a very interesting timing for her to post that. Basically it means that they're trying to break through and get through all the snow because at this point it has been snowing for days and days and days and that's actually been happening here as well, and so they have a group of people That are from outside of town and they take all their [00:23:00] oxen and they work through the road together to break it through and clear it. And that's the term that they used. 

 The next entry is Monday, January 17th. Everyone bundled in many layers. Father hooked up the two oxen. Many more neighbors with their two oxen each. A total of 11 teams is what they had. 22 oxen total and more men than that. Even more than 22 men were shoveling and clearing the road.

 It's a bit different than the plow that comes through on our street. I live in town, but my friend lives outside of town. And not only does she live in one of those small towns that's outside of town, she actually lives outside of that town on a road that doesn't get traveled very much. It's through farmland. 

 When they all get to the town, the taverns are overflowing with people. And then they got home about dusk. Everybody gathers the taverns because they've worked really hard. They have a nice lunch, and then they get home about dusk.

And then not too long after they get home, Teacher Holt knocks on [00:24:00] their door. He's been doing this and that in town, and he got stuck in the dark, and it's far from where he lodges. 

 Father got some more soup because they were having soup for dinner. He got some more soup. They heated it up, and then Teacher Holt spent the night at their house, and he just spent the night in their, I guess we'd call it like a living room area by the fire, and he said he was fine. He just didn't want to travel in that kind of weather at night. 

 That is chapters one through six.

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