My spirits were slightly improved. Read before breakfast, and afterwards went to the Office. Received a Note from Abby1 with a beautiful present of an Emerald for a breast pin, and a hint that I was expected. I did very little accordingly and rode out of town at one o’clock. My day passed in uncommon happiness. Such feelings as mine diminish on paper. I could never express them as they ought to be. Affection is the feeling of a man’s breast which he cannot easily show. In words it sounds puerile, in deeds, it is but seldom in life that it can be exhibited. But such days as this are worth ages of dull life and the only difficulty with them is, they make me relish dull life the less.