Hall finds the process of conversion tiresome because of the depravity of the Natives

Hall mentions the influence of Whites, especially traders, on the Natives and mentions they should be pious and "exert a religious influence"

two of Ely's children died

Ely doesn't know whether he will need to be at Fond du Lac or La Pointe for the winter yet

to keep the Natives in his area, Ely bought them fishing and hunting supplies, to be repaid through labor and game

This author has Hall's daughter

Hall and La Pointe have not heard from Greene or the Board since September 1841

Most of the things Hall asks for are for other families around La Pointe

Ayer formally asks to leave the mission

Ayer wants to leave his sons with Christian families in the city (ie in "civilization")

Boutwell's account of encountering the Ojibwe as they fled the Sioux

Dysentery kills Ely's oldest and Boutwell's youngest

There is a pagan person at Pokegoma who is helping with agriculture. This makes Ayer uncomfortable because he believes the pagans will use any opportunity to "un-christianize" the Natives

The Natives at Pokegoma are becoming more civilized, according to Ayer

Now Ayer is saying that Pokegoma is not doing well as far as the actual mission of conversion goes

While Pokegoma seems to be doing rather well, Boutwell suggests that La Pointe is struggling to stay afloat

The longer these letters go on, the less successful the Missions appear to be

Boutwell and Ayer started using a system of labor for the Natives to receive food, rather than them "begging"

Hall wants to spread word about the intelligence of the Natives

Hall wants to spend the whole winter in the NE states with his family at the expense of the Board

Hall's daughter is being completely supported by Boutwell

Hall wants for the Board to give La Pointe $1000 for the year to come (1841)

Ayer is describing a huge religious awakening for the congregation at Pokegoma

Ayer is reducing the stock at Pokegoma, possibly because he senses the end coming?

Ayer doesn't want to the "regular work" at Pokegama

Hall requests more female help at La Pointe

at Pokegoma, Ely is making the school thrive

While Hall isn't asking to be done, he is asking for a break

Hall thinks all current missionaries should stay in the field, yet he almost seems to imply that no new individuals should join them? But he just asked for manual labor help

unlike the other missionaries, Hall doesn't want to quit (or is it reverse psychology??)

Hall is asking for money so that he can focus his energy where he feels it actually belongs

Hall is speaking for all missionaries when he says that they are almost out of energy to continue

Hall is also finding himself spending (in his opinion) too much time on manual labor and not enough time preaching

Hall needs more money to keep La Pointe afloat

the Board releases Seymour, but suggests that he not study divinity

Ely seems to be saying that God should just convert the Ojibwe, because if the missionaries try to do it, it will never happen

Seymour has been so busy doing manual labor at Pokegoma that he hasn't taught any religious instruction or school

Ely is weak

Ayer has been ill

Okay so it appears that Greene says the Board doesn't recommend that Cooke return to La Pointe, but that if she wants to still, they might let her?

Greene essentially tells Ely that he and his family are staying at Fond du Lac until it develops

Greene believes that the original failure of Fond du Lac was caused by the influence of Catholicism there

Articles of Agreement between Hall and Ely about what each other do

Ely doesn't want to occupy Fond du Lac anymore

Hall expressed to Ely that he was in need of another woman at La Pointe because his wife was continually ill and he was doing all the housework

Ely describes the needs of the Natives through his own eyes at Fond du Lac

Eminaso (a Native in Ely's region) has a venereal disease

According to Boutwell, the Ojibwe at Leech Lake are spiritually and moral less than any other he has seen

Boutwell describes a conflict he had with some of the Natives in his area

Ayer family was sick as well

Boutwell is put on a list of men suspected of stealing ammunition, and his cattle are killed by the Natives in the region

sickness was prominent in the Boutwell family, with both husband and wife being afflicted by something

Mr. Greene doesn't want the missionaries giving out gifts often because it taints the message

Mr. Greene seems to suggest that Mr. Town should abandon his post at the mission since he is gone from there so often anyway

a chief at La Pointe gives his medicine bag to Joseph Town, except it's actually at Fond du Lac?

Boutwell's wife is illl and so is his child

Hall almost seems upset that he has to be at home caring for his children instead of travelling and christianizing the Natives

there are four children at La Pointe in 1836, all of whom are considered babies that need constant care

Hall thinks that they are being neglected both in terms of education and actual care

the women are sick a lot and cannot care for the babies as well as mr. Hall thinks they should be

Hall describes the Natives as having unstable character

Hall is suggesting sending missionaries back to Boston for a few months to have them talk to the committee and obtain new people for labor

he also wants to keep the newly built houses in the hands of the committee and lend them to the Natives

Miss Cook is at Fond du Lac with Mr. Ely

Hall believes that Catholicism is a bigger threat to the success of the missions than "heathenism"

one travelling Native spent winter with Mr. Ely at Fond du Lac while travelling to Lac Courtiraille

Greene suspects that soon the influx of white people into the "wilderness" will soon reach the missions in the Northwest

Nindipens and Eninabonde make a deal with Mr. Ely that he can use all the grass and timber he pleases in the land that is his

Boutwell is depressed

the tone of Hall's response suggests that he frustrated at the Mission and at Greene

Hall advises Greene not to let the Catholics upset him

In response to Greene stating that abandoning the mission would be the next option, Hall says that it is their duty to do what they can

Mr. Ayer's questions for Henry Sibley, who resides at St Peters

help at Pokegama for the Ayer's family is low because of injury and sickness

the Ayer's family arrived at Pokegama (?) and is unsettled due to house and land setbacks

Sproat was supposed to go with Ely to Fond du Lac, but the sickness of Mrs. Hall made him stay at La Pointe to help Ms. Cooke with the school

Hall essentially asks his sisters to come help at La Pointe

because his wife is often sick, Mr. Hall has to do some housework, which takes away from the importance of missionary work

Ely has 3 helpers for working the school

Ely asks for a lot for the school in order to maintain the attention of attending students (scholars) and attract new members

This is how the second chief of the Leech Lake band views Boutwell and his mission efforts

Parenting styles

1/4/1836: Mr. Ely leaves for La Pointe with Kuogetash (Native boy)

Boutwell hired a Catholic Frenchman as a laborer, but feels that he is not a good representation of the faith, and has decided to do all laboring himself - he asks for a pious man to be sent to Leech Lake instead

Seymour is unaffective among the Ojibwe because he is unmarried (want to get married because of his "sense of duty"), but he feels that marrying an Ojibwe women would ruin his reputation

Mr. Town will occupy Fond du Lac

at the end of September the Ely family will return to Fond du Lac

Boutwell has been at Leech Lake for two years, working solo, so the progress is slow and needs to be re-enforced

September 1835: Ely stays at La Pointe, Fond du Lac in unattended

Mr. Greene is not sending any additional resources to the Missions in the Northwest

Boutwell and Crooks baptize their daughter Elizabeth Antoinette

Boutwell built his own house at Leech Lake

In order to overcome suspicions of a mistress, Boutwell marries Hester Crooks

When his wife is ill, Boutwell is forced to take care of the house

Boutwell married Hester Cooks

Boutwell's wife is an Ojibwe woman

Fond du Lac and Mr. Ely

Mr. Boutwell's circumstances seem to him that he needs a wife

What Mr. Town would be expected to do at Yellow Lake

Mr. Greene breaks down to Mr. Town who all is located at Yellow Lake

Boutwell is sick

items that Mr. Hall requests from Mr. Greene

Mr. Ely tells Mr. Boutwell that the first chief, La Gueule Plot, wants a school

Mr. Ayer requests Mr. Ely or Mr. Seymour

Mrs. Ely is only 18

Mr. Ely and his wife are travelling to Fond du Lac

Ely confirms he is to be located at Sandy Lake to teach

Mr. Ely will teach school at Sandy Lake

Boutwell knows these statement would cause the killing of many Natives if they were made public

Boutwell sees the Natives as charity seeking

Boutwell disapproves of the way the Natives handle food

how Boutwell views his relationship with the Ojibwe

Ayer doesn't think Christianization will work unless the bands settle down and cultivate land rather than roaming for most of the year

Ayer expects Ely to close his Mission near Sandy Lake because not many Natives settle there and requests that Ely be sent to Yellow Lake because he has similar views to the Ayer Mission Family

Ayer requests another male for the Mission to teach and superintend while he [Ayer] is away

this remark indicates that Ayer is primarily concerned with improving the condition of the Natives through the building of a Mission in this region

Ayer does NOT want a mission near a trading post because "of the moral pestilence that reigns around them"

Hall writes to Greene to tell him what the Mission needs: books, medicine, clothing, shoes

I think this is saying that Mr. Ayer thinks Leech Lake, not La Pointe, is the best spot for a mission because so many different bands congregate there

the current mission at La Pointe is funded by Mr. Warren - local bands consider it his Mission instead that of the Board

Mr. Boutwell stayed at Mackinaw for a year to assist with the mission there and learn the Ojibwe language

Mr. Hall, Mr. Ayer, Mrs. Hall, and Mrs. Campbell (interpreter) traveled to La Pointe on Lake Superior

Mr. S comes to what was once Fon du Lao department where a Mr. Morison conducted trade with the Natives. it is now run down and run by Mr. Cote, a French man. The land is still good for agriculture.

Mr. Warren helps provide for the mission; furniture, a cow, house space, firewood, produce from agriculture, labour

Austen characterizes Mr. Parker as a man with immense pride towards his village. He boasts of the many benefits of Sanditon all while suffering from a sprained ankle.

This sentence is particularly cruel towards Clara, and represents a shift through free indiret discourse from the narrator's perspective to the perspectives of one of the characters. However, it is difficult to determine whether or not the opinion is that of Lady Denham or Mr. Parker.

Links to common words/themes throughout the annotations

According to and article titled Courting the Victorian Women, "Courtship was considered more a career move than a romantic interlude for young men, as all of a woman's property reverted to him upon marriage". Mr. Bingley traveling is discussed as everyone's business, and "reports" are updated of his whereabouts. It's not that the town where the Bennet's live is gossipy, but rather so many young women are hoping to marry Mr. Bingley and wait for the opportunity to run into him conveniently, or can know how many times he has gone to see Jane Bennet etc.

Dickens evidently drew this idea from a note written earlier in his Book of Memoranda: "Gibbon's Decline and Fall. The two characters, one reporting to the other as he reads. Both getting confused as to whether it is not all going on now!" (21). Boffin and Wegg are reading Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Dickens had an 1825 eight-volume edition.

In the manuscript, the first few times the name is corrected from 'Teddy." Dickens probably added the note below (Nicodemus. "Noddy Boffin") after he made the changes in the manuscript.

In his Companion to Our Mutual Friend, Michael Cotsell notes that "Crude surgery and the Napoleonic Wars meant that wooden legs were not an uncommon sight in Dickens's lifetime" (50). See Cotsell for more on Dickens's possible sources for Wegg's wooden leg. The Companion to Our Mutual Friend. London: Allen & Unwin, 1986.

his "Imaginary man" could possibly refer to the "French gentleman" in Mr. Venus's shop, but it most likely refers to Mr. Venus himself, an imaginary version of the taxidermist Mr. Willis, to whom illustrator Marcus Stone took Dickens for inspiration (see note above). In a letter to Stone on Februrary 28, 1864, Dickens wrote: "I have done the St. Andrew Street place, and have made it the last Chapter of the 2nd. No. I will send you a proof when I get it. It is very like, with an imaginary man and an imaginary place in the story." The full text of this letter is available on the Our Mutual Friend Scholarly Pages (University of California Santa Cruz) at http://omf.ucsc.edu/dickens/letters/marcus-stone.html.

Dickens told his illustrator Marcus Stone that “he had a personage who had just appeared upon the scene who was to have some eccentric calling, and that he could not find the calling that would suit him” (quoted in Michael Cotsell, The Companion to Our Mutual Friend [Allen & Unwin, 1986], 65). Stone took Dickens to see a taxidermist called Willis in Seven Dials in London, “an articulator of skeletons, a stuffer of birds, and dealer in bottled monsters.” "I suggested Mr. Willis, or rather his occupation, as an idea that might be suggestive," wrote Stone. "'It is the very thing that I want he said it couldn't be better.'" This real-life detour resulted in Mr. Venus’s appearance in the second installment. For more, see Michael Slater, Charles Dickens (New Haven: Yale UP, 2009), 524-25, and Francis Xavier Shea, "Mr. Venus Observed: The Plot Change in Our Mutual Friend," Papers on Language and Literature 4 (1968): 170–181, 170.

The Boffins rename Old Harmon's place "Boffin's Bower," but it is otherwise known as "Harmony Jail" (see note above):

"Boffin's Bower is the name Mrs Boffin christened it when we come into it as a property. If you should meet with anybody that don't know it by that name (which hardly anybody does), when you've got nigh upon about a odd mile, or say and a quarter if you like, up Maiden Lane, Battle Bridge, ask for Harmony Jail, and you'll be put right."

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."

But couldn't this definition of marriage, then, apply to Charlotte and Mr. Collins? Before their marriage, Elizabeth thought quite highly of Charlotte. Couldn't Charlotte's strong qualities improve Mr. Collins'? And though he is not an exceedingly charming character, I am sure he has a few qualities that Charlotte could be improved from.

The Boffins rename Old Harmon's place "Boffin's Bower," but it is otherwise known as "Harmony Jail" (see note above):

"Boffin's Bower is the name Mrs Boffin christened it when we come into it as a property. If you should meet with anybody that don't know it by that name (which hardly anybody does), when you've got nigh upon about a odd mile, or say and a quarter if you like, up Maiden Lane, Battle Bridge, ask for Harmony Jail, and you'll be put right."

Dickens told his illustrator Marcus Stone that “he had a personage who had just appeared upon the scene who was to have some eccentric calling, and that he could not find the calling that would suit him” (quoted in Michael Cotsell, The Companion to Our Mutual Friend [Allen & Unwin, 1986], 65). Stone took Dickens to see a taxidermist called Willis in Seven Dials in London, “an articulator of skeletons, a stuffer of birds, and dealer in bottled monsters.” "I suggested Mr. Willis, or rather his occupation, as an idea that might be suggestive," wrote Stone. "'It is the very thing that I want he said it couldn't be better.'" This real-life detour resulted in Mr. Venus’s appearance in the second installment. For more, see Michael Slater, Charles Dickens (New Haven: Yale UP, 2009), 524-25, and Francis Xavier Shea, "Mr. Venus Observed: The Plot Change in Our Mutual Friend," Papers on Language and Literature 4 (1968): 170–181, 170.

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."

his "Imaginary man" could possibly refer to the "French gentleman" in Mr. Venus's shop, but it most likely refers to Mr. Venus himself, an imaginary version of the taxidermist Mr. Willis, to whom illustrator Marcus Stone took Dickens for inspiration (see note above). In a letter to Stone on Februrary 28, 1864, Dickens wrote: "I have done the St. Andrew Street place, and have made it the last Chapter of the 2nd. No. I will send you a proof when I get it. It is very like, with an imaginary man and an imaginary place in the story." The full text of this letter is available on the Our Mutual Friend Scholarly Pages (University of California Santa Cruz) at http://omf.ucsc.edu/dickens/letters/marcus-stone.html.

We present one theory about who "Mr. Baptiste" might have been here. Given that all the information we have about this figure (as far as we now know) is what is printed on this page, does this theory seem convincing? What other possibilities might we consider?

For real tho!