A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32

These journal entries cover the period from September 6 to September 20, 1831. Catherine explains the meaning of the quilt to Asa, who wonders how it would help a sailor on the sea if the quilt was in Boston. They laugh, the first time they have done so since Cassie’s death.

Slowly, life returns to normal: Matty plays with her dolls, and kittens in the barn grow bigger. The family learns of the August 21 revolt of enslaved people in the South led by Nat Turner; many people were murdered, and Turner is in jail. Catherine thinks that it is strange that they can speak about these deaths without grief and wonders if grief joins all of humanity. She wonders, too, how people can refer to “Providence” (the care of God) when it so often deprives people of life, as happened in the Wiley Slide. The latest edition of The Liberator says that the rebels who revolted deserved no more criticism than did the Patriots when killing the British during the Revolutionary War. Ann bridles at this and refuses to have the newspaper in the house.

Talk about the revolt of enslaved people continues. Many people favor the establishment of a “new Negro separate nation” in Africa (120), to be called Liberia.