Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2
1787-01-22
Employ'd all day, in translating some german observations for Mr. Dana: finished them: and in the evening I went down there to carry them. Miss Ellery and Miss Jones, keep up a correspondence in writing. Almy has a larger share of Sense, than commonly falls to the lot of her sex, and, that sense is cultivated and improved, a circumstance, still more uncommon.1
In spite of JQA's favorable disposition toward Almy Ellery and his critical and repeated comments about the “sour fits” or “unsociable” attitude of Catherine Jones, he was able to compose an acrostic about the latter on this day, which he wrote into his Diary on 16 April 1788 (below). The original is in M/JQA/28, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 223.