Serena's World: January 28, 1851 A Rainy Morning

Tuesday 28^th (January)

This morning I went to school, it was raining quite hard so I was obliged to ride. Unexpectedly I had to recite and therefore was not very well prepared with my lessons. I talked most of the day and would have been much frightened if the roll had have been called. In the afternoon I knit some on a sock belonging to a friend talked and laughed some and then Mr. Wilber dismissed us. I am now at home trying to study my lessons and write some composition for Friday. We had quite a pleasant walk home this evening though it was quite muddy. I am anxiously waiting for a letter from my dear old Piqua and hope soon to receive one but do now know but I shall be disappointed however I shall, “hope on hope ever” as is the old saying. Now I am going to study my lessons and try to write some composition.

Serena rides to school in a horse-drawn carriage driven by the servant, James. She mentions the muddy walk home, but it really is worse than muddy. She does not elaborate on the description because she has never known any situation better than this. There is no garbage collection in Cincinnati. Residents throw their garbage into the streets where pigs freely roam, digging through the garbage, and eating what they choose. Mrs. Houston, an English traveler in 1849, described the city as “’literally speaking a city of pigs … a monster piggery’ where ‘grunts and … squeals meet you at every moment’” (Clubbe 88). Manure from horses and pigs adds to the filth in the streets. Each horse contributes about three gallons of urine and twenty pounds of manure a day (Clubbe 214).