A Gathering of Days Study Guide

The first journal entry begins with Catherine Cabot Hall's proclamation: "I, Catherine Cabot Hall, aged 13 years, 6 months, 29 days, of Meredith in the State of New-Hampshire, do begin this book." Indeed, she does. Catherine tells of her family, her home, and her friends. Catherine explains that her mother has died and that her friend Cassie's mother, Mrs. Shipman, teaches Catherine and her younger sister the things that mothers teach their daughters. One evening after supper, Mr. Hall tells his two daughters a story of a man searching in the woods for four lost hogs. Mr. Hall explains that a headless woman frightened off the man. Unsure of what he truly saw, the man returned to the woods and found the headless woman to be nothing more than a stump. Catherine retells the story to Asa and Cassie. (read more)