A Gathering of Days | Setting

A Gathering of Days Setting

A Gathering of Days takes place on a small New Hampshire farm between October 1830 and March 1832. Winter here is long and harsh, with snowstorms and bitter cold; spring brings birds and maple sugaring; hot summer offers the pleasures of berries and swimming ponds; autumn means apples and cider, harvesting and early frost.

Rural life during this period is busy but simple. Children attend "blab" schools in both the winter and summer, competing in spelling bees and carefully copying maxims in their lesson books.

Boys help with the crops, and girls are exempt from learning arithmetic.

Women admire the clothing in Godey's Lady's Books, experiment with new recipes, and painstakingly piece quilts.

Men work the land, journey to Boston to trade for supplies, and gather their families to read the Bible and Leavitt's Almanac.

During these years, slavery is...
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