A Tedious Day
A Tedious Day
From Miriam Webster:
Tedious has been in use since the 15th century and has been included in hundreds of dictionaries, although perhaps none have rendered so poetic and succinct a definition as Nathaniel Bailey’s entry in his 1756 *New Universal Etymological English Dictionary*: “Wearisome by continuance.”
It’s January in Leelanau County and we are in the grip of a major winter storm, with temperatures hovering around zero degrees and winds howling. Schools are closed and we sit indoors and look out, grateful that we are warm and safe. On days like this Reverend Smith of Northport would be housebound, stoking fires, keeping warm, having church meetings when possible. Of course, the animals still needed tending. Imagine the challenges of getting water to your horses and cattle when the wind howls, the snow drifts, and the temperature plummets. It would involve buckets and hand pumps, gloves and boots, and digging snow to even reach the barn (no snowblower involved):
Jan 1st 1864 Mer 0°– 8°– 14 16o Wind W a most furious gale – Snow drifting so that we can scarcely see & piled up in great banks every where so it is almost impossible to get out door any where it is probably 4 feet all around our West door, the window nearby banked up! I have been 3 to Mary’s [his daughter, up the hill] by wallowing thro the banks. Carried some fresh beef, onions &c – it is a fearful time I think I never knew so severe a day – thus begins the New Year
Jan 3nd, Sunday, -3°, Wind N, Cloudy furiously tempestuous snow drifting fearfully no possibility of getting away any where. There has been no meeting in this place today I was quite sick through the night & fore part of today, feel better tonight. I can’t get a horse from the barn to the house – have had to carry water to them over the drifts – I had to shovel a long time to get my pigs out so I could give them drink this is the 3d day since they had any they were literally buried. One of our roosters froze to death today – others almost failed – it is altogether the worst storm and of the longest continuance I remember ever to have known
January 28, 1867, Mer 15°19°11°Wind NW light
Eve strong – cloudy – some snow squalls I have most of the day been engaged in shoveling away from our doors — it is a very hard job I have also shoveled out one gate but have not yet shoveled a road to the barn – so can’t get a horse out yet –
February 4, 1868 Mer 14° Shoveled out doors, gates etc. it is wearisome work
Winters were colder then. People kept root crops in their cellars to avoid the freezing temperatures, and brought them upstairs as needed. But after days and weeks of bitter cold, even the cellars would freeze, rendering potatoes, carrots and turnips into frozen pulp and threatening ruin and starvation:
January 23, 1871, 8°
Tedious day – our cellar froze last night some
Regular commerce was interrupted. People risked life and limb just to travel from place to place. When it got dark outside, it was very dark indeed:
Sab Jan 10, 1864, 15°
We walk over the top of our picket fence on Snow drifts. PM I shoveled out the N gate so I could get out with my horse & cutter – I started to H.H. [Head of Harbor, ie. The Bight] but met Mr Rose. He said it was impossible to get through, the road was completly blocked up – Mr Woolsey tried to get through with oxen & sled last night with Mrs Woolsey – got into a. snow bank & had to leave his sled & go home on foot I never have seen such a time since I have been in the country
Dec 15, 1851 Mer 6 A.M. 6°/ 5-P.M. 10°
Snow has fallen since Thursday in occasional & frequent squalls 7-inches. It still snows. W. Case & John Baptist started for Manistee to trade for Mr. Paul. J Lerue Dr to 1/2 Bushel Turnips -/ to 1 Raccoon Skin—0,50 Cr by Razor 6/ Strap 4/ 1,25/ 1 Ball Wicking 1 pencil 0,06/ 1 Paper tacks 0,06
It still Snows & blows/ hard night & day — it is a very tedious time
And always the word from Reverend Smith was “tedious”:
Jan 22, 1855 -Mer 14°-12°-7°-Wind NW,
One of the most tedious blows I ever knew last night it was almost enough to make the earth tremble snow also fell fast in all about 6 inches
Winters were colder then. Ice always formed on the bay, unlike now. In fact, the winter was the best time to haul wood from the Manitou Islands because the lake always froze all the way out, allowing teams of horses to cross over. The ice became a highway for commerce. A story told by George Grosvenor relates how his dad, Tracy, had the Mail contract to North Manitou Island. Normally the mail boat was used, but in the wintertime when Lake Michigan froze they would drive their model A or model T out to the island with George carrying a two by four, walking ahead to test the ice, and tied to the front bumper. One hopes that young George was able to slip free of his two by four harness in the event of the car going through the ice behind him.
Winters were colder then. And remember, there was no internet, no tv, no radio, no telegraph … nothing. News from the outside world came slowly and getting out to see your neighbors became impossible. Getting out to use the outdoor toilet would be equally impossible, so let your imagination work on that. Even basic hygiene became a challenge (no toilet paper!). And sickness was never far away (no kleenex!). Long days spent indoors, near the fire, reading by lamplight or by sitting next to one of the small windows which graced the house. Frequent forays outside to keep the animals alive. Writing in journals, bringing in wood, tending the fire, drawing water, keeping warm. These were the necessary and restricted activities which made up the typical day of Reverend George Nelson Smith (1807 – 1881) in early Northport, at the edge of the known world. These were the days of tedium.
by Mark Smith, OHS secretary
The diaries of Reverend George Nelson Smith can be found here, hosted by Northport Area Museum
Photos of the Manitou Mail Boat, courtesy of Leelanau Historical Society