1862 October 26 Fauquier County, Va.

[from the diary of Anne Madison Willis Ambler]

Have not spent the Sabbath profitably
=staid in my room & tried to read
but the children were noisy & then
wandering thoughts troubled me
- to tell the truth I fear that my heart
was where they were all sitting talking, but
I can not conscientiously enter into
such conversation on the Sabbath as
if it were a common day.--I never did, but
I would always remember it i.e. Gods
Holy day & consecrate it entirely to him--
--the children have to be attended to
however & I hope that by endeavoring to
do my duty towards them I am
moving forward.
A Co. of 75 men asked to stay all
night & get super.  Pa consented to let
them sleep at the barn, & made fires in
the cellar & quarters for them to day, as it
has been raining all, & gave each man
a drink.  F[annie] & B[ertie] assisted in the
kitchen & were most expeditious=the
men arrived almost half past five &
by half past eight they had all
gotten their supers--poor fellows

[as transcribed in part in 1972 by her granddaughter Anne Madison Wright Baylor]

MSS 15406