Cold and cloudy. Exercises as usual. Evening, Degrand, H. G. Gorham.

I devoted the morning hour to my daughter Louisa as usual. Attended Divine service at Dr. Frothingham’s in Chauncy place and heard there Mr. Fox of Newburyport preach in the morning from Philippians 3. 14. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” and in the afternoon from Luke 10. 29. “And who is my neighbor.” These were both of them good and sensible discourses without attracting my attention as much as they should have done. Indeed I am beginning to fear that I shall never be able to correct this unfortunate tendency of mine to wander in my thoughts during the delivery of any oral discourse.

After a brief visit to Mrs. S. A. Otis’ to see the copy which Osgood is making of the Picture of my Grandfather,1 I read a Sermon on Self-government by the Revd. Benjamin Ibbot, Proverbs 16. 32 “He that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.” Dr. Ibbot did not appear to me remarkable.

At tea time Mr. Degrand came, just from Quincy, giving us a distressing note from my mother about the state of little Fanny.2 She has had two bad days and Dr. Holbrook is at his wit’s end, so that the object of the note was to induce Dr. Bigelow to go to Quincy and see her tomorrow. I immediately went down for the purpose and after a conference with him made an appointment to go to Quincy in the morning.

H. Gardiner Gorham came in afterwards and spent an hour in small conversation of indifferent matters, after which I set about making up arrears in Diary.