May 15, 1851 - Such graceful jumping

Thursday 15th (May)

The day of days has come. Rose by 5 o-clock was ready by 7 to start. Went down to Aunt Dodson’s to start, when I got there found the omnibus waiting for me. Went over for Mary S[ackett], and when I came back found Charlie [Wright?] waiting for me, introduced Mary to him and also Julia [Jordan]. Well we got started and such a beautiful morning, and pleasant ride until we came to the narrows where we all had to get out and the boys helped to haul the omnibus by. We walked nearly a mile when we got in but soon had to get out again. We were soon there and such a beautiful place. Went to the dressing room prepared our toilet and then down to the woods. The boys were very polite indeed, we got on top of the fence and such graceful jumping. Went up in the woods and staid until dinner time, came back ate dinner at a most splendid table after which we went out under a shady tree, read awhile, and then took a walk to the culvert and was caught by the boys, who came out from behind a bush, and took us a skiff ride, the boat filled so fast as to frighten us dreadfully, we tried to get to shore but it was impossible for sometime, finally we landed on a rock the boys waded and took us out. We then went up to the house, sat on the grass a while, and then prepared to come home. All seated in the omnibus we started, and had a very pleasant ride down. Edna W sang for us and then we sang. Arrived at last, but the beaux had their feelings somewhat hurt. Went home with Mary Sackett a while and then returned home.

Aunt Dodson is probably Jane Rose Dodson, the sister of Luther Rose. Luther Rose is Serena’s maternal grandfather.

Mary J. Sackett is a fellow student at Wesleyan Female College. She will graduate on Friday, June 27, 1851. She will read her composition “Influence of Cheap Literature” at the Commencement Exercises. (Alumna 1859:56). She will teach at the college from 1853 until at least 1859 (The Alumna 1859:98). Edna W. may also be a classmate.

Times are changing. Back in the 1820s, women had such a “passion for modesty…that group picnics were thought to be indelicate” (Green and Bennett 33). The location of this picnic is not mentioned. They use an omnibus to get there. An omnibus is a horse-drawn conveyance, similar to a stagecoach, but with the doors at the back and seats running lengthwise along the sides. It can seat from twelve to twenty-eight people, depending on the size of the vehicle, and requires two or four horses. Omnibus lines came to Cincinnati in the 1840s (McShane and Tarr 59). Williams’ Cincinnati Guide and Business Register for 1852 lists ten scheduled routes, but the young people seem to have hired this one for today’s adventure.

“Prepared our toilet” means that they combed their hair, washed their faces and hands, and perhaps bit their lips and pinched their cheeks to give them more color. These young ladies would certainly not use lipstick or powder their noses. They may have removed veils or wraps worn to protect their hair and dresses from dust while they were traveling in the omnibus.

They must get over a fence to reach the fields and woods. That fence would probably be a rail fence; barbed wire will not be commercially available until 1873 (World Book).

“The best way to assist a lady over a fence, is to stand yourself upon the upper rail, and while using one hand to keep a steady position, stoop, offer her the other, and with a firm steady grasp, hold her hand until she stands beside you; then let her go down the other side first, and follow her when she is safe upon the ground” (Hartley 70). Serena and her friends choose to ignore this advice. The laughing girls, in a flutter of sunbonnets, long skirts, and petticoats, gleefully leap from the fence, perhaps into the arms of the eager young men waiting to “assist” them.