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11 through Bill who brot back Mr Rusks horses from Marianna today (they having carried in yesterday some gentlemen from a boat) a short letter from Thaddy My medicine & bundles not come yet, he rails me slightly about my two hundred & fifteen dollar horse, & says everybody there is is talking about it , let them I am naturally very sensitive about ridicule, but don't care about this after all I am satisfyed with the trade, & am the only person interested, for, if Providence frowns not upon me, I'll be able to pay it We are all liable to make bargains, at some period of our lives, that savor of folly mine does not so to me I have just signed a petition of rather a novel sort one which Rusk brot in one which Lexon is carrying around these parts i e to divide the county of Jackson, & make a new one Ringgold Co., Port Jackson to be the county seat, I wd be benefitted by such a measure, as twould make this a point of afflux &c & knowing no objection, signed it I stepped to the Port before supper & fished a few minutes with Friday Caught what he called a pollywobble, i. e. a little mud cat, the hook securing it by the posterior part of the abdomen Thaddy says he has bot a good watch Wonder how & when &c I am sleepy tonight My candle has gone out & tho pine knots give a good light, they are oppressively calorific so I'll cease writing, read awhile, & then je me dormerais Is that right? Saturday Dec 23rd I put on a clean shirt, shaved &c &c this morning, having resolved last night to go to Marianna today Eat an early breakfast, at which were present Elijah Bryant, Maj Finley & Capt Baker from the Bay, on their way to Marianna 'twas one of the most perfectly beautiful, glorious mornings I have ever rejoiced in bright, fresh, fragrant and life giving I started out immediately after breakfast, for Jordans Found my sweet little patient doing well The inflamation sub dued very much and she not nearly so afraid of me Her mo ther and I dressed it alone, none of the neighbors being present, as before, concluding that there is no dislocation or fracture about the ends of the bones (and I fervently pray that my conclusion is correct)
12 I removed the bandages and long splint, and applied & pre scribed large poultices around the joint; placing the limb too, in order to secure its quiet, in a rough case which I manufac tured from clapboards with a drawing knife, saw and pork chop ping bench, I worked for a long time at my rustic splint box surgery in the back woods this Mr Jordan came in sick heaving, vomiting and groaning making a dire concert of guttur al sounds suffering from the recurrence of a chill, did'nt wish any physic until he became really sick & then he'd send for me I left the dressing of little Janes leg in their hands, ho ping that I shall be no more needed in the case I returned, eat a hasty dinner, gave Tom a little corn, remounted him and hied away for Marianna I left at 1 1/2 or 2 o'clock, carrying my clarinet for Thaddy & Liston's Surgery for John, reached there at about 6 o'clock about an hour after dusk as as I led Tom in the back gate, heard Thaddy say "its Charley" and out of the door came he, Julia, and of all in the world most unexpected Pa I was completely filled with joyful surprise at meeting him; put up Tom, came in & helped them finish supper, oysters etc. and learnt all about the unlooked for visit; he had just popped in upon them, without fore warning and I came in just when I should have come We sat up quite late talking Pa has brot a fine new gun & equipments and is going to revel in the sports of the wild wood during the Christmas holidays Twill do him good After spending a week in Marianna, he is com ing over to pay me a visit I read two letters from him, Ma & Callie affectionate letters also one from Miss Neary, with a little P S from Dr Drake & one from [Byrdie] all af fectionate and cheering rejoicing Father Thaddy & I went to the Drug store, where I selected my necessary supply of medicine Little Ellen is fat, fatter, fattest her feet recovered almost perfectly from their once so troublesome eruption, & she learning how to toddle about, with little aid, astonishing ly fast (I physicked a sick baby of Betsy's before starting)
13 Sunday Dec 24th Christmas Eve Was awaked early, by a [non] ill natured crying turn of Ellen's (I slept on the lounge in the parlor) after little nursing she quieted, and I exercised my self in catching fleas, till getting up time I became completely covered with the active, vexatious vermin, from the stable, last night, in feeding Tom After breakfast we went to the Drug store again I finished fixing my physic, Pa wrote a letter home, Thaddy went to Sabbath School, Pa & I went to Ely's Tavern, to see an invalid gentleman & his physician attendant brother, whom he travelled with yesterday we went home & amused ourselves in watching & assisting Ellen's sprightly, erratic little footsteps Thaddy returned, & I, not feeling at liberty to stay longer, tho' loathe to go, at such a time, saddled up, bid good bye to all, and returned I carried in my pocket as lunch a large fragment from an excellent sponge cake sent me by good Mrs Shotwell, & in my saddlebags, another beautiful heart shaped one from Mother besides a heavy one of physic, some books, my Portfolio etc I carried also, at pommel of saddle, in my handkerchief, a copy of Ramsbotham, which Father brot me from Mr Pease Tom walks splendidly, an untiring, brisk & easy walk, that "can't be beat" I left Marianna at 10 1/2 or 11 o'clock, & reached here, at about 3 I presume letting Tom take his own gait the bridle laying on the saddle pommell I let him take his own way too, I found him perfectly conversant with it turning off at every proper by path, without guidance I emptied the contents of my saddle bags & pockets, and physicked Betsy's baby then spent the remnant of the afternoon in Sabbath reading & reflection Have eaten supper, written over 2 pages in my Journal, & will pretty soon go to bed feel as if I cd sleep well have made an arrangement with Mr Rusk, that I'll borrow his buggy & go after Father myself, at the end of the week MRs Rusk has'nt yet returned I feel Marianna fleas yet tickling my legs Fond night
14 Monday Dec 25th Christmas Day What a contrast between the manner in which I have spent this day, and my doings on its last annivesary 1847 I was then in Louis ville enjoying the real, whole souled merriment with which the day is always characterized in the great west Let's see, I recollect the mode in which most of it was passed on christmas eve, I was invited to a country frolic, at Miller's, four miles west of the city, in the Pond settlement I hired a spirited gray horse from Rucker's stable, and with Bob Smith on Bob Miller's little black poney, rode mer rily out, over the bleak, crackling snow covered ground I remember I was wearing goggles for sore eyes (tarsdal ophthal mia) the cold made them bedim so, I pulled them off we reached there at about 7 o'clock, soon after the ladies appeared & dancing began, almost [instanter] the house was filled Two rooms full, & with 3 nigger fiddlers in the in tervening passage, working their elbows, lungs and eyes with all their might calling out the figures, everything rattled away most merrily As I neither danced nor drank eggnogg, I hovered around the outskirts, snatching what few conversational sweets I cd from the stationary [feair] ones [rari nascent in gurgite vasto], tho' or rather [rari stabant? circum gurgite vasto] a giddy gurgite sure enough They danced till midnight Bob amongst the loftiest of the lofty assisted in his ascent by the abounding eggnogg I, as sober as when I came They stopped for supper and a profuse, variegated one it was I eat of omnibus rebus quibusdamque aliis From hot coffee & turkey to icecream and sherbet &c, So soon as this was oer, the motion of the "light fantastic toes" was again commenced I ordered out my horse, & with George [Rannald] & his bro started for Louisville Our horses, sharpened by the biting cold, dashed furiously on, thro' wood & ditch past turnpike gates etc, making [the] silent, gas lit streets, as we entered them, resound to the clatter of our heels I turned in; in full perspiration, in our cosy little back room in Dr Bayless office, slept soundly till sunrise, when I was awakened by the entrance of Bob Smith,
15 who, with swollen eyes, and wearied [gait] was just returning from the dancing fandango Well, we had a merry day of it I spent it in visiting Was at Miss Mary Browne's much Mrs Page's & everywhere Mrs Bayless gave a grand Christ mas dinner at which were present her sisters Miss Mary & Sally & Judge Browne, with Mrs Boothe & family Mr & Mrs Page & family Betty amongst them Mr & Mrs Foreman & Miss Ann F & George F I believe Bob & myself What a merry, merry time we had of it I sat next to Mrs Bayless, & the plum pudding she the sweetest of the two tho' it was the best I ever ate all care was forgot & everything went "merrily as a marriage bell They joked me much for sending often for oyster plant, which dish Betty served out & for "not having any appetite" we sat long at the table Dr Bayless was full of merriment & glee & so were all In the afternoon Bob & I made a few fashionable calls We went to see Misses Emma & Anna [Thruston] We met Miss E at a dinner party at Browne's in the country when were the pretty little Popes Betty & ]????] We promised this call We went too, to Dr Cobb's & called on Miss Bourne after supper I think twas at Miss Mary's, we spent the evening merrily there Now the contrast tho' strong, is not unpleasant the memory of what I've been recounting, is almost as fresh and present as the reality I have been all day in my office quietly reading &c I compounded several tinctures in the morning physicked a sick baby of Betsy's & performed some algebraic formulae It has rained most of the day I thot of Pa his hunting for the first day inter rupted by it He must make up for it here at dinner, by way of vivid comparison with that of last Christmas, I was all solo Rusk was at the Port Mrs R not returned and I munched my homely bait in silence, ruminating pleas antly yet sadly over the ups & downs, the changes that we meet with in this [????table] earth I thot of all near & dear to me of Mother & Callie in Columbus Father Julia & Thaddie & all in Marianna Betty in Columbia all in Louisville