Describes the celebration of Christmas in St. Louis: “Boys & half grown men began to fire guns & Indian crackers last night (Sunday) long before it was dark, and continued it till late at night. On Christmas day I find that merchants generally shut their stores. By 12 o clock to day very few, except apothecary shops & groggeries were open. Very few comparatively attended church. The firing of guns, pistols & Indian crackers were kept up all day. Most parents take this occasion to present their children with a variety of presents. It is indeed the great time for making presents among all classes of people. By night there were hundreds upon hundreds almost dead drunk & the way they are spending the evening in the streets and among the groggeries is a caution to all sober men.”, 1848 Dec 25

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Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection contains a typescript copy of a diary of Rev. Charles Peabody, May 21– September 11, 1846; a diary of Rev. Peabody, October 12, 1846–July 25, 1849, while he traveled in the West (mostly in St. Louis, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio) as an agent of the American Tract Society; and four travel diaries of Rev. Peabody, 1858-1859, recording his travels mostly in Europe. The collection also contains correspondence to Rev. Peabody, 1888-1889; many of these letters are from his Dartmouth College classmates.