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014 Navigating Through Challenges: 'A Gathering of Days' Chapters 13-18 Summary

• Tia Hain • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Navigating Life's Challenges: A Deep Dive into 'A Gathering of Days' Chapters 13-18

In this episode, hosted by Tia Hain, we explore the themes and events of chapters 13 through 18 of Joan W. Bloss' novel 'A Gathering of Days.' The protagonist, Catherine Hall, confronts difficult choices, loss, and the changing world around her, all set against the backdrop of harsh winters, acts of kindness, and personal tragedy. Tia integrates these discussions with updates from her own life, including her role as a Classical Conversations Challenge A Director, homeschooling insights, and a personal family anecdote. Detailed summaries of each chapter offer listeners a vivid account of Catherine's journey and observations, while Tia also previews upcoming episodes focused on the novel 'Crispin.'

00:00 Introduction to Catherine Hall's Journey
00:25 Welcome to Camp Hain
01:05 Apologies and Updates
02:14 Diving into Chapters 13-18
02:20 Chapter 13: Quilt Making and Family Stories
09:11 Chapter 14: Teacher Holt's Wedding and Summer Adventures
15:53 Chapter 15: Cassie's Illness and Funeral
19:33 Chapter 16: Coping with Loss and Moving Forward
20:16 Reflections and Rebellions
20:55 Liberator's Words and Slave Revolt Discussions
22:04 Family Dynamics and Daily Life
23:21 School Days and Discipline
23:35 Aunt Lucy's Wedding and Aftermath
24:41 Winter School and Portraits
27:38 Harvest and Family Traditions
30:10 Home Education and Changes
32:43 Letters and Reflections
36:25 Final Thoughts and Farewells

014 A Gathering of Days Chapters 13-18 Summary

[00:00:00] Tia: Imagine keeping a diary that holds not just your daily life, but the struggles, joys, and deep moral dilemmas of your time. In chapters 13 through 18 of A Gathering of Days, Catherine Hall faces difficult choices, unexpected losses, and the changing world around her. How does she navigate the harsh winter, a secret act of kindness, and a heartbreaking tragedy?

[00:00:21] Let's dive into this powerful section of Joan W. Bloss award winning novel.

[00:00:25] Welcome to Camp Hayne, the adventures of a Catholic family that homeschools, public schools, online schools, and has one super obsessed with baseball kid. Currently, I, Tia Hayne, am a Classical Conversations Challenge Aid 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, and our life.

[00:00:53] We love our adventures, so come along for the ride, and click subscribe or follow if you are a homeschooler or are thinking about [00:01:00] homeschooling, or even if this content just interests you. I've said the things, now let's move on into the content.

[00:01:05] First, I would like to apologize for being so late. I know last episode I said that I was just getting over a sickness that we had. Little did we know that was actually the easy sickness. Right after that, our family got hit with something else that basically knocks you out of commission for about two weeks, and during that two weeks, I still had to direct my Challenge A class, everything else got put on the wayside because that was about all I could handle was directing the class and getting ready for it. And even that, I didn't do the greatest job. But I'm back now and I'm going to finish up A Gathering of Days. Hopefully this isn't too late for you guys. I know we just finished up doing our paper for the book, so hopefully it's still helpful for some of you.

[00:01:46] And it has been requested that I do Crispin as well. What I think I'm gonna do with that is because it's 58 chapters, I am going to chop it up into much smaller like mini podcast episodes. Hopefully [00:02:00] around 10 chapters each. That would make it about six episodes. But instead of doing it out over six weeks, I'm gonna try to release 'em within about two weeks.

[00:02:08] Maybe about three episodes a week. Cross your fingers, wish me luck. Pray for me. Hopefully I can get that done for you all. 

[00:02:14] But right now, let's go ahead and dive into Chapters 13 through 18 of A Gathering of Days.

[00:02:20] Chapter 13. We start off with Monday, June 13th, and the stepmom brought out her pattern book, which had many different patterns of quilts in it.

[00:02:32] Catherine selected the Mariner's Compass because the background is white and she can use an old linen for that. It is a pattern not known there where they are in New Hampshire, even though it is quite popular in Boston and Maine. 

[00:02:47] Tuesday, June 14th, when Catherine got home from school, her stepmom had laid out a bunch of scraps of material and she told Catherine, you'll need to cut them very exact. [00:03:00] And her stepmom watches. 

[00:03:01] Wednesday, June 15th, Uncle Jack tells a story of a farmer. The farmer bet that he knew how much his horse could pull. A bystander selected a log, and the farmer nodded, but the horse couldn't move it. Then the farmer saw a pair of wet mittens on the log, remove them, and the horse could pull the log. Daniel questioned if the story was true. 

[00:03:23] Thursday, June 16th. Joshua met the girls at school. He was walking to the Shipman's to get some books from Teacher Holt. Joshua says he aspires to study at Mr. Dudley Leavitt's School. 

[00:03:37] Saturday, June 18th. Catherine is still cutting pieces for her quilt. The stepmom says that maybe if she knew then what she has to do now, she might have made a different choice.

[00:03:50] Monday, June 20th. Sophy now walks the long way home to conveniently walk by the Shipman's home, and Asa is conveniently [00:04:00] always at the fence when she walks by. 

[00:04:02] Wednesday, June 22nd, the stepmom is getting picky on how things should be taken care of in the house, but also Catherine notices she will usually take her side against Daniel or even Father sometimes.

[00:04:15] And as she was repacking a trunk from Boston, she asked if Catherine liked a set of cuffs and matching collar. Catherine thought they were beautiful and the stepmom gave them to her. 

[00:04:26] Thursday, June 23rd. There was a great storm last night and Catherine liked it while Matty did not. 

[00:04:33] Friday, June 24th have enough pieces cut to start the quilt. 

[00:04:37] Monday, June 27th. Stitching away must get stepmom's approval for each block done. Late summer evenings mean more social time. Daniel and Asa are fast friends now. 

[00:04:49] July 4th before the sun was fully up, chores were done, wagon was packed, and food and cider were packed along with it, and they were [00:05:00] on their way to town for the celebration.

[00:05:02] Lots going on for the celebration, including the occasional firecrackers, spooking horses, but their horses, Babe and Nelly, stay calm all day. 

[00:05:12] Now, if you can in the comments, can you remind me, have we even talked about their horses, Babe and Nelly before? I think we might have briefly mentioned a horse or two, but I don't even remember getting their names.

[00:05:22] Anyway, 9:00 AM is the parade of the militia. Yankee Doodle is the last song that is played. The Declaration of Independence is read and then a prayer. Catherine feels a soldier's prayer is more forceful than a minister's. Daniel and Asa slipped off. So did Father and Uncle Jack, but the women were enjoying the show so much.

[00:05:44] They hardly even noticed that they had slipped off. By midday it was rather warm, and they enjoyed the shade of the wagon and ate the food that they had brought. Father already heard of burns and a maiming from a misfired explosion. As the afternoon went on, people stopped to meet [00:06:00] the new wife. As they headed home, one last display of fireworks was over the valley. 

[00:06:05] Thursday, July 7th, it's very hot, no rain. Raspberries are sad. Father is worried about fire. So buckets of water are stored around the house. And the Shipman family visited.

[00:06:16] Friday, July 8th. Matty got stung by a bee and ran to her instead of Catherine. She mixed salt and water to make a paste. It worked well. This was a new remedy to Catherine. Catherine watched while she sat with Matty and sang funny songs, and then she remembered that her mother used to do that with her. 

[00:06:39] Monday, July 11th, there is difficulty in raising money for the Bunker Hill Monument. Six years ago, she took Daniel to the marker's dedication. General Lafayette from France and Senator Daniel Webster were there. Daniel had liked that they shared a [00:07:00] name then. She commented that Senator Webster is also the son of a New Hampshire farmer, so they share that now too. Even though the girls like this, Daniel didn't seem to care. The monument is to greet those entering and leaving Boston Harbor.

[00:07:18] Tuesday, July 12th. Daniel figured a perfect name for the girls to call his mother, Mammann. And that's spelled M-A-M-M-A-N-N. Okay, mama is combined with her name Anne. She heard it as sounding French though later. Catherine said Goodnight. Mammann. First time that she has addressed her directly. 

[00:07:41] Wednesday, July 13th, Daniel is teaching Catherine sums as in adding. She will surprise him next winter with a knitted muffler. 

[00:07:51] Thursday, July 14th, a boy died from burns received on July 4th. Mammann believes it is a terrible price to pay for celebration.

[00:07:59] [00:08:00] Father thinks it will always happen so long as we celebrate July 4th. We celebrate because we love our freedom being in the US gives us. Mammann says she loves it no less than he. She just doesn't like people dying for celebrating. Mr. Shipman brought up Zebulon Preston, who got his ear shot off. Mom, Ann shushed him. Catherine thought of how when Father talked with him, she would stare at his ear and wonder about the scar.

[00:08:31] So Zebulon Preston is somebody that does some work in town, and so she's remembering back long time ago before the story takes place, how when Father would talk with him, that Catherine herself would notice the scar and well his ear and would stare at it.

[00:08:48] Friday, July 15th. Eating mostly beans and drying some for winter.

[00:08:52] Catherine isn't thrilled with so many, but Mammann and Father remind her to be grateful for the food. Saturday, July 16th, [00:09:00] Cassie and Daniel hanging out together more.

[00:09:03] The Sabbath, July 17th. Mammann makes an observation about swallows in spring and that is the end of chapter 13. 

[00:09:11] We are now moving on to chapter 14.

[00:09:14] Monday, July 25th, Teacher Holt and Aunt Lucy are getting married. There's no date set yet. Catherine and Cassie hope they get married there. It is, decided that the Hall children and the Shipman children will call him Uncle Edward from now on. Mammann says, joyful times confirm faith as sorrowful times test it.

[00:09:34] Thursday, July 28th on the way home from school, Catherine and Cassie talk about how happy Aunt Lucy is. Sophy loses it and cries about going to the mills. She wants them to write letters to her. She makes them promise.

[00:09:47] Monday, August 1st, finally rain, but Father thinks it's too late to help the corn. Mammann's roses stand up right now.

[00:09:57] Tuesday, August 2nd, Joshua was there as [00:10:00] school got out. He walked with Catherine, Cassie and Sophy a ways. He suggested going through the woods. Cassie and Sophy did not want to so Catherine and Joshua went. They were grateful for the coolness of the woods, and they came across an oriole, and Catherine wanted to draw it.

[00:10:15] Wednesday, August 3rd.

[00:10:18] Catherine dreads having the fire going during the summer. 

[00:10:22] Mammann's complexion is getting darker in the summer months. It's not as fair as it once was. No longer worried about being elegant, she pins up her hair like a farmer's wife and rolls up her sleeves to the elbow. 

[00:10:34] Thursday, August 4th. Teacher Orapha sometimes has school outside under the tree. The Littles practice verses and ABCs.

[00:10:44] The older kids practice three syllable words, not telling teacher they have already mastered them. Catherine thinks about the Jew who sold her the scissors. Then says she has seven blocks of quilt done, so many, many more to go. 

[00:10:58] Friday, August [00:11:00] 5th, Daniel and Asa help each other with their chores so they can go fishing.

[00:11:04] Saturday, August 6th. It's too hot. The cat doesn't even go after the mouse. All move slowly in the heat. 

[00:11:12] Sunday, August 7th. Another story from Father. When he was young, there was a poor family who lived on the edge of town. One day the mom went to a house asking for a bit of butter. The farm wife who answered the door said she didn't have any, and the other woman ran off cursing. So the farm wife went back to churning, but no butter would come.

[00:11:33] So the farm wife put the hook that held the pot into the fire and then put it into the churn, so steam rose up and the butter was made. Two days later at sundown, a child came to the farmer's wife's door saying her mother was ill. She went, and as she approached the bed, she knew it was too late. 

[00:11:52] Then Father continued on with the story. They said in town, that when the body was gotten ready for burial, a recent burn in the [00:12:00] shape of a hook was discovered. It was just the same as the hook that the farm wife used to purify the milk. 

[00:12:06] Now, I'm gonna tell you the truth. I don't understand the point of this story. I think he's saying something about... it sounds like he's saying that the farmer's wife had burned her somehow or had burned her when she was there asking for a bit of butter. 

[00:12:22] I don't understand the point of telling the story, and I don't understand the point of telling the story in this particular book. 

[00:12:27] Once again, if you understand what's going on here, please leave a note in the comments and let me know. It's just a little confusing to me as to what this has to do with the rest of the story. Okay.

[00:12:37] Tuesday, August 9th, Catherine complains about the heat. Mammann says that they should be grateful for the large summer kitchen that they have so the rest of the house doesn't get extra hot or how the city dwellers have to deal with all of the fires on their street and it's much worse. Mammann is amazed by country life.

[00:12:55] Wednesday, August 10th, the dark stripe Tabby cat had her kittens. Cassie [00:13:00] likes the white one best while Catherine likes the black one. 

[00:13:02] Thursday, August 11th, Mrs. Shipman, Mammann, Cassie and Catherine pick whortle berries all day. They found tons. Pies, puddings, enriched summer milk are all gonna be made from them.

[00:13:15] Their arms have tons of welts and scratches from the briars. They wash themselves in the little Squam pond before returning home. Cassie became chilled. This happens with Cassie, but her hands were still cold when they said goodbye. Tomorrow they will meet to sort the berries. 

[00:13:34] Friday, August 12th. Cassie has a fever.

[00:13:37] Catherine thinks it might be because she got too chilled the day before. Cassie wasn't at school and the Shipmans didn't come over. Daniel sulks because he wanted to go to town with Asa. But Mammann said she wouldn't grant permission anyway.

[00:13:50] Saturday, August 13th. Mammann visited the Shipmans. She said Cassie took a turn for the worse.

[00:13:57] They called the doctor and he applied [00:14:00] leeches. Cassie's even more weak and pale. Mammann wants to call another doctor, but Father points out that they aren't in Boston. There is no other doctor. 

[00:14:09] Monday, August 15th. It is still way too hot. No storm came to break the heat. Cassie is slightly improved. Catherine picks flowers hoping to see her. Cassie's mother says that she's resting and she won't let Catherine in. Catherine felt she must see her to also express affections from schoolmates. 

[00:14:29] Later written by moonlight. Catherine writes cicadas so loud that they woke her.

[00:14:35] Tuesday, August 16th, Cassie took another turn for the worse. Mammann gets upset and at one point flees from the house. She comes back a bit later and she's all composed. She sat at her writing desk and she's determined to send to Boston for a book of remedies. And then Uncle Jack came to visit later.

[00:14:53] Wednesday, August 17th. They say Cassie is recovering. More berries have grown. Catherine won [00:15:00] at spelling. 

[00:15:00] Thursday, August 18th, finally had the storm. Father tells the tale of The Old Man and the Sea. Catherine got chills at the fateful verse:

[00:15:10] Man of the sea, come listen to me. For Alice, my wife, the plague of my life has sent me to beg a boon of thee. 

[00:15:18] The moral coming through of becoming poor again because she wished too high. Then Catherine thinks about how she had wished for wealth without labor and she appreciates Father's teaching. Matty asked if that happened in Father's town when he was young and everyone laughed, and poor Matty ran to the house.

[00:15:38] Daniel followed her in. Catherine overhears Daniel telling Matty that he believed the story when he was younger too, but since he was in Boston, he thought it happened there. 

[00:15:49] Saturday, August 20th, the only entry is Cassie died. 

[00:15:53] Now we're on to chapter 15.

[00:15:56] Monday, August 22nd. Catherine, Matty and Sophy were among [00:16:00] the 12 girls chosen to be in the funeral for Cassie.

[00:16:03] They wore all white and carried armfuls of wild flowers. They were the same ones Catherine had picked for Cassie earlier. The church bell filled the air as they walked to the cemetery. Everyone was crying, even the men. Cassie's Father wrote a small poem to be put on Cassie's gravestone. It says:

[00:16:22] She lived among us for a while. And brought joy where she went. We thought she was a gift of God, but learned she was but lent.

[00:16:31] Catherine thinks of it over and over again and she decides she's going to strive to be good and kind like Cassie for Cassie's sake. 

[00:16:38] Thursday, August 25th. Mammann is constantly at the Shipman's helping. She is unnaturally calm.

[00:16:46] Father and Uncle Edward asked Mr. Shipman if they can help, but he says no. Aunt Lucy brought out all of her lovely dresses to be dyed for mourning clothes as an M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. Mammann [00:17:00] says she doesn't know how the Shipmans do it. So resigned. Father just agrees with an I know. 

[00:17:05] Friday, August 26th, one week ago, Cassie was alive.

[00:17:09] Catherine is glad their last time being together was so filled with joy. 

[00:17:14] Saturday, August 27th, Catherine rewrote the last page of their speller. We should remember our departed friends only to imitate their virtues and not pine away with useless sorrow. Catherine and Sophy talk about missing Cassie. Sophy talks about how she is gone while Catherine protests saying, she lives in their thoughts and love. In her heart she knows Sophy is right. 

[00:17:37] Later while walking by the Shipman's, Catherine looks up at Cassie's window out of habit and she remembers calling to Cassie and hanging out up there with her. Mrs. Shipman says the morning Cassie was gone, she was peaceful with a smile on her face. In the meantime, Mammann awaits her book of remedies from Boston.

[00:17:56] Catherine notes how different Mammann and Mrs. Shipman handle the [00:18:00] loss. Mrs. Shipman is stoic and resigned while Mammann is searching for solutions. What would her own mother have done? She wonders. 

[00:18:09] Friday, September 2nd, David Shipman showed up at their door with lime for preserving eggs. They had more than enough and wanted to share.

[00:18:18] He stayed a bit watching Catherine draw her flowers. He commented that it was pretty what she was drawing. Then he took her pen and drew a small mouse looking at her flowers. Catherine didn't know that he also drew. 

[00:18:32] Sunday, September 4th. The sermon reminded them that although their suffering is great, there's always others who suffer more.

[00:18:39] And it was reminded to them of the Wiley slide, which was five years earlier. It was in 1826. Lots of slides were on the mountains. The Wiley farm was on Crawford Notch where the mountain was steep. One afternoon there was a bad slide. The Wileys fled from their home, but all were caught by the slide and killed.

[00:18:59] [00:19:00] For some reason, the avalanche parted around their house, so if they hadn't left their house, they would've been fine. Rescuers went into the house and found the Bible open to a certain passage about the Lord thundering the heavens. Father, read it out loud to them. With this, Daniel broke into sobs and left the room.

[00:19:18] Monday, September 5th, the kettles boiled with laundry. Catherine and Mammann sorted and tied up herbs. Asa and David came to visit with Daniel. They have grown close now. Sometimes they let Catherine hang out with them, now that Cassie is gone. 

[00:19:33] Now we're on to chapter 16. 

[00:19:35] Tuesday, September 6th. Catherine has fallen behind in her quilt, so Mammann tells her just to work on sewing to catch up. David asked if the quilt has a name. Mariner's Compass. Catherine told him the story of its meaning. Asa asked how it would help if the quilt was in Boston and the sailor was at sea. Everyone laughed. This was the first time they had laughed since Cassie died. 

[00:19:59] [00:20:00] Wednesday, September 7th, Matty played with her dolls today. She hadn't done so in a long time.

[00:20:05] Matty, Catherine and Mammann did their best to spruce them up. Catherine remembers playing with dolls when she was little. 

[00:20:11] Thursday, September 8th. The kittens have grown and are hunting on their own.

[00:20:16] Monday, September 12th. The Father is weary tonight from an old injury and working determined to complete the hang.

[00:20:24] Catherine thinks of long ago when her mother had died. How she awoke one morning to the mirror turned to face the wall and the smell of fresh cut wood for two coffins in the house, one large, one small, and they were both inside the house. 

[00:20:39] Tuesday, September 13th, they learned of Nat Turner's rebellion.

[00:20:44] Many people had been murdered. Most of those rebelling taken and shot. Nat Turner was in jail. It happened back on August 21st, the day after Cassie had died. 

[00:20:55] September 14th Wednesday, Uncle Jack has a copy of the [00:21:00] Liberator. William Lloyd Garrison, who publishes the paper, writes how what was prophesized in January has come to quote unquote bloody reality.

[00:21:11] " The killings were dreadful event, but the raiders do not deserve any more censure than the Greeks destroying the Turks or the Poles in exterminating the Russians or our Fathers slaughtering the British." That was a quote from William Lloyd Garrison and there was a hurricane in Port au Prince. 700 had died.

[00:21:32] Thursday, September 15th. There's lots of talk driven by the Slave Revolt. Many people want a new nation in Africa for them called Liberia. Southerners are opposed. They depend on the labor. Some say the slaves are ill prepared to be on their own. 

[00:21:49] Others say some slaves do not even wish to go. Should they be departed against their will? Father agrees on the settlement and Uncle Jack does not. He [00:22:00] thinks the Southerners would know better than the Yankee farmers what would be best. Catherine is now certain her phantom was a runaway slave.

[00:22:09] Tia: Friday, September Lots of hard work from Father and Daniel. Haying, mowing, gathering. Daniel says he looks forward to the start of school. Father declares they have made a farm boy of him. When Mammann asks how so? He says he never met a farm boy yet, who would not rather trade his hay fork for a quill this time of year.

[00:22:31] Saturday, September 17th. awoke from their beds due to the Northern Lights displaying beautifully. They watched for an hour before all being too tired to stay up anymore. 

[00:22:44] Monday, September 19th. Okay, Aunt Lucy marriage date is set again. Teacher Holt accepted a position at the boys academy in Exeter. They want to establish themselves before the autumn term. Aunt Lucy wants to be married here.

[00:22:59] [00:23:00] Tuesday, September 20th. Mammann disciplined Matty today. You must learn to like the doing of that, which we like you to do. That was in quotes from the book. Catherine remembers how she used to struggle with Matty. Discipline of the will. Tomorrow. Sophy leaves for 

[00:23:18] Lowell,

[00:23:19] Wednesday, September 21st. Many were gathered to see Sophy off. She wore a pinned to her bodice, a lock of braided hair looking like Asa's. Many tears from everyone. Catherine didn't realize how dear Sophy had become to her. She wishes her well. 

[00:23:35] Thursday, September 22nd, Aunt Lucy will get married on Sunday.

[00:23:39] Mammann asks if Catherine will wear the blue bonnet she got for her. Catherine says in her journal that she would like to do it to please Mammann, but she cannot, will not, won't. 

[00:23:52] Sunday, September 25th, Aunt Lucy gets married. All the same people were there who were at Cassie's funeral. The [00:24:00] Shipmans were dressed in black except Aunt Lucy and Bridal White.

[00:24:02] Catherine wore Sunday best and her mother's brooch. Father wore his wedding jacket, and Mammann wore dark green silk. The ceremony was brief, and Aunt Lucy and Uncle Edward were off. 

[00:24:15] Thursday, September 29th, Catherine got a package. The writing on it was the same as the writing in her book. In it was two matching pieces of crocheted lace and a note written. Sisters, bless you, free now, Curtis in Canada. At first, Catherine was confused with the two pieces of lace and the sisters. Then she remembered Cassie and she started weeping.

[00:24:39] Wednesday, October 12th. Start of winter school. Catherine walked to school with Matty, Daniel and Asa, but she was thinking more of who wasn't there than who was. Mammann gave Catherine a shawl of hers. As she put it across her shoulders and nodded it in the front. Mammann commented how the color becomes Catherine.

[00:24:57] Some of the kids are now smaller than [00:25:00] Matty. She enjoys being in the second row of school instead of the first. Catherine doesn't like the new teacher. His face is pinched and he sniffs and coughs for emphasis. And there are seven new switches sitting in the corner. He made it obvious that he planned to use the switches to keep order.

[00:25:17] Joshua was there. Catherine hadn't seen him since Cassie's funeral. 

[00:25:21] Thursday, October 13th, Sophy's Father is going to move the family to Ohio. The farming is better there. He will send for the rest of the family when the new homestead is found and the cabin built.

[00:25:33] Friday, October 14th, the stencillers were back. They had stopped at the Shipmans and heard about Cassie. So very sorry. The bearded one notice Father had gotten a wife and a full grown son since they had been there last. Father said he had no money for murals. The painter said he would paint a likeness of the new Mistress Hall using a new camera obscura to speed up the process.

[00:25:59] He would let Father [00:26:00] make portraits of all the children for free using the device if he did that. So Father accepted.

[00:26:06] The way the device works is using mirrors to direct the image on paper. Then the artist could trace the image and color it in on the paper. The one the artist did of Mammann, looks lovely.

[00:26:17] The one's Father did of the children were eh. Catherine thinks that in the portrait, her brow is too big and her chin is too small. 

[00:26:24] Sunday, October 16th. Fallen leaves and apples. The apples are to be made into cider. They see Uncle Jack less and less. He talks of heading west to Ohio. Catherine thinks it might be because of his influence with Father has diminished since Mammann has come.

[00:26:41] Catherine decides to read a few lines from the Bible every day. 

[00:26:44] Monday, October 17th, there is talk that the Jew who sells sewing notions has been around, but they have not seen him. Maybe he is anxious to get home in the cold.

[00:26:55] From one of the school books, it says, Zeno says men have two [00:27:00] ears, but one tongue, so they should listen twice as much as they can speak.

[00:27:04] Thursday, October 20th, Mammann's book of remedies has come. The bookseller tried to talk her into another book, published only a year ago and claims the latest and most approved remedies. Mammann says she'll think about it, but it is expensive. Father has heard that theirs is considered the best kept school in the district.

[00:27:24] The committee is pleased, but the children at the school are not. Each day there are new rules and punishments. All of the older boys are determined to try the teacher. So far, the teacher only threatens the whipping 

[00:27:36] Sunday, October 23rd. The harvest is here. Father gives the Barlow knife to Daniel, the one he was planning to give to his infant son Nathaniel before he died. Before Daniel had come, Catherine had wondered if one day she would get the knife.

[00:27:51] Monday, October 24th, Catherine comments about corn and potatoes being the prose of a farmer child's life and nutting [00:28:00] is the poetry. Chestnuts, beach nuts, hickories are plentiful. Also butternut, which are Catherine's favorite. Catherine writes about how she loves this time of year and wishes harsh winter would never come.

[00:28:12] Catherine is working on her quilt by the fire. Sometimes Matty helps her. Mammann is working on hooking a rug. The house needs more warmth underfoot, and it needs more color. 

[00:28:23] Tuesday, October 25th. Yesterday, Joshua got in trouble at school. He rose from his place before dismissal and he showed no shame when reprimanded, the teacher got all mad and the room fell silent and still.

[00:28:37] Then a giggle was heard. Even though it was not Joshua, the teacher called him to the front of the room. He put several switches on the desk to choose from. He told Joshua to remove his shirt and present his back to the room. As the teacher lifted his arm, Daniel and Asa, and eventually all the boys promptly ran to the front of the room, picked up the [00:29:00] teacher, and threw him into the yard.

[00:29:01] Nothing was said at home, even though Father had to have heard. Catherine feels Daniel suffers more with Father being mad than with the teacher and all his wrath. 

[00:29:12] Now we're on chapter 18, the last chapter.

[00:29:15] Wednesday, October 26th. Father described the happenings of Monday as a prank. Daniel and Catherine were shocked.

[00:29:24] Mammann said her daughters. And that's in an exclamation point. So Catherine, when she's writing in her book, she's very... I don't know what it would be 'cause she just put an exclamation point, but she has quotes around her daughters. Mammann is now calling them her daughters. 

[00:29:42] I think Catherine actually likes it based off of what we'll read in a little bit here. Mammann said her daughters shall not continue to be exposed to such common cruelty from the teacher. Matty and Catherine are withdrawn from the school. The children are told of their decision when [00:30:00] they got home.

[00:30:00] Mammann and Father talked about it. They made a decision so when the children got home from school. Wednesday, October 26th, they're informed that they are not going back to school the next day. Mammann will teach them at home. She is a teacher and she has already written to Boston for books. Daniel was supposed to be taught at home with them, but he felt loyal to Asa and David and the other boys, so he pleaded to go back.

[00:30:22] Thursday, October 27th. Mammann said she would have lessons set out every morning early for them. They would have two hours of study. After Mammann would listen to them and correct anything. Catherine thought today was quite comical 'cause in between asking questions and receiving answers for school, there were injections of:

[00:30:43] Catherine, my scissors, please.

[00:30:45] Dear child, do raise up that pot.

[00:30:47] Matty, that sauce is going to scorch. 

[00:30:50] Catherine, watch your stitches. 

[00:30:52] Friday, October 28th, Aunt Lucy Holt is going to have a baby in early spring. 

[00:30:57] Saturday, October 29th. [00:31:00] Almost all of Catherine's quilt is pieced. Mammann is going to talk to Father to see if the quilting frame is good or needs repair. They will have a quilting.

[00:31:10] Sunday, October 30th. As the day was ending, Father sat next to Catherine and talked to her as she was spreading out her quilting pieces to see how to join them. He said her mother would be happy. At first, she didn't know what he was talking about. Then he commented on how we are all wanderers and strangers, and how we all travel uncharted seas.

[00:31:32] Catherine figured he was talking about her phantom stranger, Curtis. And also Cassie, now called on a great journey. Catherine says she now believes we are all joined in some way. 

[00:31:44] Monday, October 31st. Today, Catherine was ready to deal with the Freeman's lace. She wrapped it with dried flowers and set it beside Cassie's grave, and she doesn't tell anybody about it.

[00:31:56] Tuesday, November 8th. Sophy sends home good wages to her [00:32:00] family. Catherine thinks of possibly joining her when she turns 15, unless Sophy has already moved to Ohio by then. 

[00:32:06] Thursday, November 10th, Mammann is helping Catherine knit a cap for Aunt Lucy's baby. Catherine wonders if they will name her Cassie if it is a girl.

[00:32:15] Wednesday, November 23rd, the Shipmans are still grieving. The Halls do not join them for Thanksgiving. The Halls do not have a feast of their own, but they do go to church. Catherine wears the blue bonnet. It compliments her eyes. 

[00:32:29] Monday, December 12th. Father says they must buy Leavitt's Almanac for 1832.

[00:32:35] Others are recommended more, but Father likes this one because it is local and he knows Mr. Leavitt. 

[00:32:41] Monday, December 19th. Mrs. Shipman receives a letter from Aunt Lucy. She gives part of it to Catherine because it concerns her. Aunt Lucy asks if Catherine can come to help after the baby is born. Aunt Lucy doesn't really have friends yet, and although the town is poor and girls [00:33:00] cannot attend school, Uncle Edward would be glad to teach Catherine at home.

[00:33:04] Then Catherine comments at the start of writing the journal, she wished to stay where she was forever and also that she become more glad of doing what she has asked. Now she knows she will be fine with whatever Father and Mammann decide. She now thinks trust and not submission defines obedience. 

[00:33:26] That reminds me of my own son... a little story here.

[00:33:30] Back when he was about 10 or 11. My kids are homebodies and my oldest son is an extreme homebody, but it was very interesting because one time when he was about 10 or 11, his Father and I were talking with him and we were just commenting about someday he will want to leave us, and he burst into tears.

[00:33:52] He, the idea of him even wanting to leave us and go out in the world, get his own apartment or just even [00:34:00] go to college, was just horrifying to him. He is like, no, I wanna stay with you forever. And we had to fight really hard to not just burst out laughing. And it's like, okay, we understand at this age that you think that you wanna stay with us forever, but trust us soon you will change. Just time will change you. Growing up will change you. Puberty will change you, and you will not want to stay with us forever. And now that he's 16, he's like, um, I want my license. I wanna go out and do things. What college am I going to? Hmm, that one across the country, that doesn't look so bad. I just thought it was funny that this point reminds me where she was saying even just at the beginning of her journal, which was about a year and a half earlier, that she was all talking about how she never wanted to leave and now she's looking forward to going out and exploring the world.

[00:34:50] Okay, sorry about that. Side story. 

[00:34:52] Tuesday, December 20th, Father and Mammann decide it is best that Catherine accepts the offer. She doesn't have to go yet [00:35:00] 'cause the baby's not due until spring. When the snow and the ice and the mud have gone, is what Father talks about. That's what's important to him.

[00:35:07] Friday, December 23rd, Mrs. Shipman says she put away Cassie's clothes. She knows some will think it is wasteful, but Mammann says that what she did was right. 

[00:35:18] New Year's Day 1832, Priest Fowell reminded them:

[00:35:23] To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

[00:35:33] Catherine comments on all that happened throughout the year. They lived, they loved, they moved, and they learned to accept. 

[00:35:42] Saturday, January 14th. You'll notice that these entries keep spreading out here. Today Catherine looked at the mural painted in the Shipman's house. She looked at the Forever Spring that Cassie had loved.

[00:35:56] Then a couple of lines popped into her head. She doesn't know where they [00:36:00] came from. 

[00:36:00] Now let every occasion fill, command thy heart to joy. 

[00:36:05] So she decides that she's going to do that. 

[00:36:07] Friday, February 3rd. Heavy snow. Knitted all afternoon. 

[00:36:12] Sabbath. Snowed again. Could not go out.

[00:36:15] Tuesday, February 7th. The breaking out is today. This will be the first for Daniel. Hard to think he wasn't here the last time. 

[00:36:23] Thursday, March 8th. Catherine is to leave at daybreak. She can't sleep, so she sneaks to the steps to write in her journal by candlelight. Her two trunks are by the door with her traveling cloak on top. Also, there is a book from Mammann. Northwood by Mrs Sarah Josepha Hale. Catherine thinks of everyone asleep in their different areas of the house. Goodnight and goodbye. 

[00:36:51] There is also a letter at the end of the book, and I'm going to read that letter, how it is written, just 'cause, I don't wanna [00:37:00] mess it up. 

[00:37:00] The letter is dated December 9th, 1899. Providence, Rhode Island. And it says, My Very Dear Catherine. I am so grateful for your letter and glad to know you enjoyed the journal I kept when I was a girl. You ask about the runaway slave, he who was certainly not a phantom, but a real though, tiny part of what was happening everywhere then and what was going to come.

[00:37:25] I never heard from him again. Though sometimes indeed for years and years, I used to imagine what I would do were there a knock upon the door and there he was, Curtis. He never came, of course. Joshua Nelson stayed on as a farmer. Two of his boys went off to fight in the war between the states. One, the younger boy, I think got killed in Gettysburg.

[00:37:46] Then Josh signed up to take his place and got wounded pretty bad. It never healed the way it should. Him not being young at the time. He died a couple of years ago. We exchanged Christmas cards right up to the end. [00:38:00] All of the others are gone now too, except for me and Little Willie Shipman. I still think of him that way, although the last I heard of him, someone was making a party, him turning 75.

[00:38:11] No, I didn't forget to tell. We had no presents at Christmas, then. Nor birthdays either. The first I saw a Christmas tree must have been in Boston when I was about 23. Well, I'm going on 83 now, but not about to quit. There are too many things I know about where I want to see what happens. You my dear, being one of them and this new century starting.

[00:38:38] Do what you can to make it good. And remember, as we used to say that life is like a pudding. It takes both the salt and the sugar to make it a really good one. Lovingly, your great-grandmother, Catherine Onesti. 

[00:38:52] PS: Thank you for telling me about the chair. That it is not warn too badly. After Mammann and Father died, it went to [00:39:00] my sister Matty. Matty never had children though, and her husband died before her. So when she passed on, it came back to me and I having no use for it, then gave it to your mother. You were very clever to have figured that out. 

[00:39:14] That is the end of A Gathering of Days. Hopefully you enjoyed the book and if you have a paper to write on it, hopefully you are able to get your paper finished.

[00:39:25] That is pretty much the end of this podcast. I know it's kind of a long one here to finish up the book, but next, well over the next two weeks, I will hopefully have Crispin all summarized up for you and easy for you to get through so you can work on your paper for that one. Until next time.