August 1st

I am true to my word and visit Phoebe each week. We have become great friends and confidants. She now knows that my baby will be due sooner than most would expect, and she wasn't at all censorious of Charles and me for anticipating our wedding night. She says many women have their first births in less than nine months. She said, "I expect that I got in the family way on our honeymoon, and if the babies go the full time, I will deliver at exactly nine months of marriage."

It is such a relief to be able to be honest with someone.  I had to of course let her into the secret of our plans for my going to Scarborough at the beginning of next month. She wanted me to be around to be support for her when her babies arrive, but I couldn't allow her to think that I would do it, and then knowingly let her down.  She doesn't  understand how I could give my baby up, even if it is for only a year.  But we must stick to our plan.

August 9th

Charles is not feeling well. We don't know what exactly is wrong with him. He blames his illness on the fact that the weather is very hot and the air is still. He has pain in his stomach and the doctor has prescribed Choldyne (chlorohydrate and morphine plus cannabis) to make him feel better and at least he can now sleep.  

Phoebe allowed me to copy these from her mother's book of receipts.

ACHES & PAINS:

4 oz. paraffin, 4 oz. methylated spirits, 4 oz. white wine vinegar (from chemist cost 8d)
1 oz. camphor, 2 egg whites
Mix together, shake well. Rub sore spots.
 
EMBROCATION :

2 oz. olive oil, 1 oz. oil of amber, 1 drachm oil of cloves
To be mixed together and rubbed on the chest at bedtime.

 
A COUGH MIXTURE:

2 drachms peppermint, 2 drachms aniseed, 2 drachs laudanum, 2 drachms ether
1/2 lb. black treacle, Scald black treacle with 1 pint of water.
Cool treacle/water liquid. Add drugs. Dose : 1 tbsp. 3 times a day
CURE FOR STUBBORN COLDS :
5lb. elderberries, simmered with 1lb. white sugar.
Strain. 1 tbsp. in hot water will cure the most stubborn cold.
 

SORE THROATS & COUGHS

Warm 6oz.of pure honey until it liquifies, then stir into 6oz. white wine vinegar.
Put in wide mouthed bottle and cork well.

JELLY FOR A WEAK PERSON

Put two ounces of peel'd isinglass into a quart of tea both with cloves, cinnamon and sugar to your taste. Simmer it over a clear fire till reduced to a pint. When cold take a bit whenever you feel inclined.

 PARCHING DRAUGHT

Beat a fresh laid egg, and wet it with a quarter of a pint of new milk warmed. A heaped spoonful of Cappilaire with a bit more    water and a little grated nutmeg. Don't warm it after the egg is in. Take it at eleven and four. 4

I hope these will tempt Charles' appetite.  I need to stay at home and care for Charles, but I can spend the time he is sleeping in writing poetry.

I never cast a flower away,
The gift of one who cared for me,
A little flower - a faded flower,
But it was done reluctantly.

I never looked a last adieu
To things familiar but my heart
Shrank with a feeling almost pain,
E'en from their lifelessness to part.

I never spoke the word farewell,
But with a sufferance faint and broken,
A heartsick yearning for the time,
When it should never more be spoken.

I do enjoy writing this, but know it is just an amateurish effort, never to be shared with the world.  I dread saying farewell to Charles in a few weeks time.

August 12th

Each time I visit one of my new friends' houses I become more dissatisfied with our little cottage. Having lived all my life in an Inn, I am used to big rooms with high ceilings. This house is cosy, and small enough for me to easily keep clean. I remember when we visited with Mrs. Gaskell on our honeymoon, how lovely her house was, but the windows were enormous, and she had huge wooden shutters on the insides, which were to ward off the winter chills.  Charles says we must continue to live in this small cottage until he perhaps can establish himself as a partner with Mr. Needham. There is talk that Mr. Needham's son John who is now 27 might well be coming into the business as well.

But for the moment, Charles thinks we can afford to make small changes in the furnishings, such as a new wall covering for the sitting room. I don't like the busy pattern on the one we have now. I would also love to replace the curtains with velvet ones perhaps in a burgundy.  I will borrow Charles' Aunt Elizabeth's sewing machine and I can make those myself. I do need to find more to keep me busy as time hangs heavy when I have no one to visit, and Charles is at work.

August 15th

I have asked Charles to arrange for John from work to make some shelves for us in the attic. I need to get on and do a large amount of preserving, and we are very limited in storage space in the kitchen.  The attic is shallow, but large enough for one to crawl into, and then almost stand at the apex of the roof. John made the shed for Charles' garden, and I know he can use an extra money that this would bring.

I have bought 2 dozen jars for preserving, with rubbers and lids. Although I have helped with this work when at home, this will be my first attempt to do it on such a large scale on my own. I have many recipes to try, including pickled beet root and pickled lettuce, which I have never had before. The beans and peas of course will be best preserved as they are, with a light salting. I will bottle fruits and make jam as well. I expect to be very busy over the next week.

I have collected together some receipts which I will try out.

UNCOOKED CHUTNEY:

1lb apples, 1lb sultanas, 1lb onions, 1 pint of vinegar
Core the apples, finely chop apples, sultanas and onions.
Mix them altogether in a large bowl. Stir in the vinegar.
Cover and leave for 24 hrs. in a cool place.
Give it another stir. Put into clean jars, put the lids on.

PICCALILLI :

1 heaped tablespoon. flour, 1level teaspoon sugar, 3 tablespoons of mustard, pinch Tumeric powder, 3 gills vinegar, 1 teaspoon pickling spice, Cauliflower, 1 lb. Onions
1/2 cucumber
Mix flour, sugar, mustard and tumeric powder with a little vinegar.
Boil rest of vinegar, with spice (in cheese cloth bag) for 5 minutes.
Pour paste in and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove bag.
Put Cauliflower, onion & cucumber (suitably chopped) in the liquid.
Stir for another 5 minutes. Cool and bottle.

August 20th

I have been studying the form for Whist so that when we have Charles friends, the two Miss Bridges around on Saturday, I will not show Charles up.

I will write down here some of the rules and suggestions I have taken in, and perhaps by writing them, my brain will accept them more readily.

By playing a straightforward game you will most rapidly obtain the credit of being thought an intelligent whist player.

The general use of general principles in whist facilitates calculation in reference to your partner's hand.

The first hand should always lead from its longest suit.
The second hand should play low.
The third hand, as a rule, should play high.
The fourth hand should confine himself almost wholly to winning or losing with the strictest regard for economy.

Play high in weak suits, in order to strengthen your partner, while in your strong suits you leave him to strengthen you.

Never finesse against a weak hand. It is as much labour lost as in killing a gnat with a hammer.

The third round of a suit only escapes a trump once in four times.

I must show these axioms to Charles:

When you have a poor partner, play the simplest possible game. It is obvious that the more profound your game in, the less he will follow you.

With a bad partner do not give hazardous information by your leads. He will not comprehend you, while the adversaries may. 5

August 24th

Our whist evening went well, although I am sure the ladies looked at me somewhat askance. I am feeling like I can no longer conceal my girth, despite all the contrivances. So I have asked Charles if we can avoid social encounters for the present time.  It will not be long before I am off to Aunt Ann to fulfil our plans.

August 28th

Charles felt that as a treat for me before I go off to York, we should take a trip up into the Hills. He hired a carriage as I am not able to walk easily long distances any more.  We lunched at Defford at the Crown kept by old friends of Charles, the Workmans.

Footnotes:

4 Recipes (called receipts in those days)  taken from a black tooled leather small book, hand written, possibly originating with Caroline Duncan, born 1867, but there are several different versions of handwriting in the book, so it may have passed down a few generations.
5 Other recipes from a website called Yorksgen Recipes.
6 From Hoyle's Book of Cardgames, 1875, 50 years of Axioms of Whist, p. 23.