I left Walpole early this morning. The weather cleared up with a cool wind which made my Coat feel comfortable when buttoned up. 421We rode easily and reached Providence without any difficulty by half past ten o’clock. Having made all the necessary arrangements for keeping the horses during my absence, I went down to the Steamboat and engaged my passage. The Boat happened to be the Benjamin Franklin1 and it was some time before I could become familiarized to the scene. My good sense told me that it was weak to give way to those feelings for that2 the accident was not more than the fate of us all sooner or later and it mattered little as to the place. But a reasoner cannot always succeed. The place had seen his presence and from thence he had gone into eternity without the possibility of assuring us what the circumstances of his fate were. No eye witnessed it, no tongue can tell it. But either conclusion which we come to is horrible enough. I had no acquaintance in the boat, but gradually distracted my mind from these meditations so that it was only at times that I had a qualm. Our trip was favourable enough. There was little or nothing to affect us and so I retired to bed to sleep badly. For in these boats, nothing else can be expected.