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

These journal entries range from January 24 to February 22, 1831. Catherine notes that Teacher Holt is still reading to the students from a newspaper, this one sent by the teacher’s friend, Mr. Garrison, in Boston. The information includes the population of New Hampshire (269,533) and the number of people from various demographics in the state, including those who are blind. Catherine and Cassie try to imagine what being either a blind person or an enslaved person would be like, a discussion that leads them to consider issues of choice and obedience.

Matty turns eight, and Catherine remembers how Father rejoiced when her infant brother, who lived only a few days, was born because every farmer needs a son. Soon, Teacher Holt brings to school a newspaper, The Liberator, started by Mr. Garrison himself and concerning the slavery question. Teacher Holt has the students copy the paper’s motto, “Our country is the world, our countrymen all mankind” (43). The townspeople disapprove of the teacher reading the news to students. Some of them saw the runaway’s footprints in Piper’s Wood, and knowing Holt’s abolitionist leanings, they conclude that it was he who helped the man. Catherine thinks that there is no end to the repercussions of having helped the runaway.