The morning was clear but colder than any we had endured this Winter. I went to the Office as usual and was engaged in occupations which prevented me from paying any attention to Williston. I was called down to oversee the work which the Painter was putting upon the House in the rear of this, at a season most unfit for the purpose. I looked over it and gave the necessary directions, being glad to get back to my room. But I was soon called away to go and inquire of Mr. Tarbell whether he knew any good man of whom to obtain Butter, a domestic errand but a very necessary one. I stopped to converse a little while with him about his little affairs in my hands and then returned, but my day was gone, I could not put any thing more into it.

The Afternoon was passed in reading Aeschines which was the conclusion of the Oration on the Crown. I admire it on the whole. How far it is superior to the long and laboured efforts of our day, when power is overlooked in the search for it. I then continued my Essay in a way I did not like. The evening was spent in reading aloud in Clarissa, wherein we progress slowly. I afterwards read the Article on the North American Indians.1