The day has arrived when it is time to break up the Summer arrangement and begin the Winter one. It was cloudy and dull but not rainy as I had anticipated. It is now nearly six months since we have been at Quincy and I can say that I have enjoyed the time very much. The Society of my father and mother has been agreeable to us, and our’s, we are assured, has not been unpleasant to them.1 We have lived quietly, without the parade of public life and without its anxieties. Nothing has happened to annoy us with disagreeable or painful feelings, or harass us with care. Perhaps in the history of a life it may be difficult to say this for any period of six months time. It is my duty to be thankful and I hope I am so. Circumstances constantly occur to 394show me the advantages of my fortune. May they never lead me to calculate too securely upon them, nor to abuse them to useless and foolish purposes.

I came to town accompanied by my child’s Nurse — My Wife in the Carriage with my Mother. Busy at my Office in various ways until one when I went home to put my study in order. Found myself in the afternoon as much at home as if I had been there a hundred years. Read several pamphlets, pro and con Masonry. I want to reach the bottom of this subject. It is not an easy one. As usual finished with the Idler.