[Diary] Saturday, March 12.
A hard-working morning getting ready for our dinner this evening. The dinner was not ready at the right time, and I had to leave the guests — Captain Hooper, Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Tomlinson, and Mr. Dyer — again and again, to see about it. Rina had in the kitchen Hastings, Brister, Lame John, and a boy helping her, but when dinner was at last on the table we found that the potatoes were forgotten entirely, and the fried oysters appeared with the pudding. The Christmas pudding sent me from home was quite cold. There was the usual long time between each change of plates. Hastings had requested the honor of waiting upon the gentlemen, and did pretty well. We were to have had our soup in a yellow bowl for want of a tureen. Hastings told Rina he had a tureen at home and would like to lend it, but if I saw it he was afraid I would want to buy it. Rina told him I would not wish to buy what he did not want to sell, and so, to my surprise, the soup appeared handsomely dished, but it was stone cold. So the dinner was a failure, but the gentlemen were merry. Captain Hooper stayed all night. He has just returned from the North and brought me a pair of camp candlesticks and a box of candy.
