Sitting before the
fire this evening, a thought came over me to write a few lines every night, of
what sort of weather we have, whether we go out or not, who comes to see us,
and how we spend our time summer and winter. I flatter myself that this will be
the last winter that we shall spend here; and I think that from this Journal,
altho' unentertaining as it will be, my dear Father may form a pretty just idea
of the melancholy winters that we have had since he went away. I wish I had
thought of this sooner, or at least on the first of this month, but as that was
not the case, think it would be ingratitude not to remark the extreme pleasant
weather we have had since the month began. Not a cloudy day, every morning a
fine white frost, so that one might say with Belcour,1 it is so warm
that if the calendar did not call it winter, one would be ready to swear it was
the opening of spring. This morning I went to the opening of the New Meeting
House, heard Mr. Sprout 2 preach, the house much crowded — Query, the
motive? — Novelty or Religion? In the afternoon, Mama and I drank Tea at Capt.
Stainforth's, met a great deal of company there, among the rest Major Edmonson,3
just returned from the Illinois; he appears very clever, we think there is a
likeness between the Major & Gov. Denny.
_______________
1 A character in Cumberland's play of the West
Indian.
2 The Rev. James Sproat, Pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church at Fourth and Arch Streets. Dr. Sproat was b. at Scituate,
Mass., April 11, 1721, O. S., d. of yellow fever Philadelphia, Oct. 19, 1793.
His church, built in 1750, was long known as the New Meeting House, and it is
possible that it is the one spoken of, as it had been repaired shortly before
the time of the above entry.
3 Charles Edmonstone, Major 18th or Royal
Irish Regiment, 1772; sold out in 1775. Wm. Denny was Governor of
Pennsylvania, 1756-1759.
SOURCE: “Extracts
from the Journal of Miss Sarah Eve,” The
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1881), p. 22
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