Jan. 2nd

Jan 2. I have been at work trimming apple trees this afternoon.

January First

Jan 1. I was up last night until after midnight, awaiting the departure of the old year, and the commencement of the New. As I sat there musing, many mournful thoughts presented themselves to me. I reflected on the time mispent on the many good resolutions with which I had commenced the year and the small number of them which I had regarded, and while I felt grateful to my Heavenly father for having so graciously watched over me, I resolved with his help, to live more to the glory of his Great name during the year to come.
“Then lets' be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.”
I have now kept a journal of my life during the past two years. I intend to continue doing so this year, but in a fuller form than hertofore. I think that in after years that it will be pleasant to look back upon my younger days.
This morning while at breakfast I formed a plan of driving down to J.lushing to call on my friend Austin B.Page who is teaching school there, and take dinner with him. So after breakfast, I went to Elizabeth Millets and borrowed their wagon and harness and invited her son Willie to accompany me. My horse that I wished to drive, “Nellie Tremont”, being laid up by a sprain, I harnessed Jenny. We left Westbury at 10.15 a.m. And arrived at J.lushing 15 miles at 12.30 pm, just as they were setting down to dinner. The day was very warm and we had a very pleasant drive. After dinner we went to take a stroll around J.lushing. We went through Parsons' nurseries, and on our return went to see the house wherein George Fox resided, when in this county. It is in a good state of presentation and on the end towards the street bears the date in ___ letters. Immediately opposite the house on the other side of the street stands a noble oak under which George Fox is said to have preached.
We left for home at 3 P.M., where we arrived at 6 after a very cold ride. I have never spent “New Years” more pleasantly.

Some History

When I was younger, every Tuesday after school my sister, cousin, and I would go to my grandmother's after school. We would eat cookies, play outside, teach the dog tricks, build forts, and make crafts out of the supplies in my grandmother's never ending closets. We even had a special club with a headquarters, rotating passwords, a grandiose plan to build a tree house, and a fund of ten dollars. Tuesdays was always the most anticipated day of the week.

However, when I reached eighth grade, or, more importantly,when Sid reached seventh grade, this all changed. He went to CBA, and wasn't able to come to Minie's after school anymore. While still fun, going to my grandmother's did lose a bit of excitement. Without Sid, making pinball machines out of pipe cleaners and foam trays lost a lot of appeal, while our club dwindled away into moth-eaten oblivion. There was still my sister, but it simply wasn't the same.

What was I to do? One day, while sitting on the spiral steps in the kitchen, I noticed a bookshelf in the downstairs room. On it was an assortment of old books and tchotchke. Examining it closer, I discovered a conch shell, a Poor Richard's Almanack from 1910, a very old Bible with a map of Jerusalem in the back, and a large amount of old novels in French. I realized that, although I knew my grandmother's house by heart, there was a bunch of old treasures just waiting to be rediscovered. So, the next week, with permission, I started a massive excavation of Minie's closets in the downstairs room. I tackled cleaning out a pile of paint jars, found a massive box of sidewalk chalk, and organized and put in photo albums two huge cardboard boxes full of pictures from my grandfather's sabbatical in France in 1973-74. I found a coffee can of beautiful Lake George crystals, a quick silver thermometer, an old-fashioned hair curler, and a large amount of my grandfather's golf trophies. After a few weeks, I had organized the entire closet and thrown away (at my grandmother's behest) box after box of unneeded and decrepit objects. Sitting back and surveying my handiwork, I was unsatisfied. Because now I had nothing to do.

So I went after another closet. This one was upstairs in the dining room, and was mostly full of piles of photo albums. I took them all out and looked through them all, sometimes with supplemental stories from Minie as she walked by. I put loose photos into empty albums, and fixed those photos which were falling out. Then, setting all these aside, I pulled out a large Xerox box full of assorted objects. Then, lo and behold, I found a set of journals.

The first one I opened stated that it belonged to a Wilson M. Page. On further examination, I realized that it was from 1857!! Not only that, but this man was my distant relative - some many times great grandfather. I was ecstatic. After all of my treasure hunting, I had finally found something - some real treasure!

And that brings us to where we are today. I am attempting to transcribe these journals into the virtual world - which, as you see, means this blog - for my immediate, extended, and non family to enjoy, and possibly correct my knowledge of 19th century English.

I only have about 14 days from the journal on my computer currently. Dave, if you read this anytime soon, I need transportation so I can transcribe some more. I will start posting on January 1st, and this will continue throughout the year.

As if I need more projects in my life. Dave, I need your help with this. Try to find out how I can make you a co-blogger.