October 14
It has been one month since mom has died, and instead of grieving like normal people, father hired a governess. This is the first time that his roll call system will be out into play.

Marta is now 3, and she was very upset when all father gave her for her birthday was a book called "How to Be a Good Daughter." She cried so much because all she wanted was her own doll. We have plenty of dolls in the girls room, but they were all used before her, and she wanted her own. So, the rest of us put our money together, and we bought her her own doll. Well, we gave the money to the housekeeper, who went out and bought it for us, as we are not allowed to leave the property unless we are going to school. Actually, the only time we are let outside is she we go for out daily "marches around the property"

Anyway, we gave Marta her doll and she was so pleased, and without thinking, she brought her dolls to dinner. Father got very angry at this, and told her that she was not allowed to have toys at dinner so he took it away from her. Marta started crying as loud as possible which made Gretl cry. Father looked at me, and told me to remove Marta and Gretl from the table. I did what I was told, and took the two out of the dinning room and brought them upstairs. I put Gretl in her crib, and made Marta sit down on my bed. I told her to talk to me about her feelings, and she did. She told me that she loved her doll and wanted it back. I went and picked her up, and put her on my lap. I told her that I will try to get the doll back, but I cannot promise. Gretl fell asleep, so I decided to let her sleep. Then, I dried Marta's tears, and her dress which had wet stains, and we went downstairs holding hands. We walked into the dinning room and Marta went back to her chair, and I went to mine, across from her. She sat quietly for the rest of the meal, but occasionally, you could see a tear drop onto her plate. That was all 2 nights ago though.

Last night, after we all the little ones went to bed, I lied out every body's uniforms for today, because knowing father, we would be getting up at out normal summer time: 7:30 am. Even though it is October, we have summer break until November because we end school at the end of August. Gretl of course, as the baby, would wake up and then spend the day with the housekeeper as she was unable to do anything besides crawl. This morning, my alarm went off at 7:00, so I was able to get prepared for the day. I woke up, did my hair with the ribbon, put in my uniform, and then I went and woke up Louisa, and the boys. The boys were dressed and ready by 7:30, so they woke up the little girls as I finished helping Louisa with her hair. After the little girls got dressed, I did their hair, and then we all came down to breakfast by 8:00.

Father was waiting, and when he saw us, he sat down, meaning that we followed. The morning went as any other. We ate breakfast, went upstairs for our summer studies, came down for lunch, but instead of then going on our walk, finishing our studies, and getting ready for dinner, we were told to go back to our rooms until he calls us down. At about 2:30, we all heard the doorbell ring. All of the kids, besides Marta, Brigitta, and Gretl were at their desks doing work, but when he doorbell rang, everyone came into our room. About 10 minutes later, we heard the whistle sound for us to line up. We ran out of the room, lined up in age order, minus Gretl who was in her crib and marched down he stairs to the beat of fathers whistle

When we arrived down, the whistle stopped, meaning that we needed to stand still. Father said "this is your governess fräulein Mildrid and she will be in charge of you. Now, when you here your signal, step forward and repeat your name, you fräulein, listen and remember their signals so you can call them when you want them"

One by one, he went down the line, blowing the whistle and we would step forward, say our name, and then step back. All was going smoothly until he got to Marta, who was still very angry at father due to the whole doll situation. When he blew Marta's sound, she didn't step forward. He blew it again, but she still didn't move. For a third time, he blew the whistle louder then before, but she didn't move. Father ignored this, and then told the governess her new signal. She thanked him, but as he was walking towards his study, he told Marta to follow him. She again, didn't move, so he walked over to her, picked her up and took the kicking and screaming girl into the study with him. There was nothing I could do but just watch.

The governess then looked down at the schedule that father had given her, and she sent us out on our march. The housekeeper gave me Gretl and then helped her bring up her clothes, and we left. As we walked outside and started to go for a walk, Friedrich asked what we thought father was going to do with Marta. We we got to the other side of the lake, we sat down on the benches that were hidden from the view of the house. Louisa spoke up and said that she thought that Father was going to yell at her, and then rip up the doll in front of her face. I looked at her and nodded thinking that was true. Then Brigitta said that she thinks that Father would just tell her that she couldn't have desert. Nobody said anything. Before mom died, father and mom used to punish us by taking away desert. Poor Brigitta... she didn't understand fathers new ways.

Anyway, after our walk, we go up to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Kurt found a worm outside and put it in his pocket. he was going to go down before dinner and put it on the governess chair. He is so clever!

When all of us returned to our rooms, Marta was sitting on her bed, crying. I ran over to her, and asked her what happened. She told me that father yelled at her for being rude and disrespectful and he told her that he threw the doll away and took away her desert privileges for a week. Poor Marta, but somehow, Brigitta was right about the punishment given.

When we all finished getting ready for dinner, we lined up and then walked down together. When we arrived, father was standing by the his chair and the governess was standing next to him, talking. When they saw us walk in, she walked next to her seat. Father sat down, and so did we. Gretl was in the arms of the governess as she insisted on holding her. When the governess looked down and starred at her chair. She then picked up the worm with her free hand, threw it into the garbage and sat down, like nothing happened. Father scanned each of us with his deathly eyes, but didn't say anything.

Dinner was served as usual, and then, the butler walked in and handed father a note. "I will be going to Vienna tomorrow, and I don't know when I will be returning." then he continued to eat. he acted as though this was no big deal, but for all of us, it was.

The governess smiled at him as if she was glad he was going. When desert was served, we all got, but Marta, who just sat there looking at her lap. I felt so bad for her that I didn't eat the desert. Then, father sent us to our rooms to get changed for bed. All of our bed times are 9:00pm, so the governess came in with Gretl at 8:30 saying that she had been fed and was ready to go to sleep. Then, she left. She didn't say goodnight, or ask us our names. So, I finished up the nightly routine, and then settled into my bed. Now I am writing this, but I must go to sleep as the clock says 9:30. Good night!