Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 2
1828-08-23
My idea of marrying this season is reluctantly abandoned and I shall be compelled to pass another winter as I did the last. My mind is gloomy enough. I rode to town, and passed the morning at the Office, reading Saunders. Received a letter from my Mother dated on my birth day and written in her kindest and most affectionate tones. 272It touched me at a moment when I was sore. It gave me a balm when all else was irritation. Her kindness is that of affection, it calls forth one’s best feelings in return. Dined at Mr. Gardiner Greene’s.1 Company large, consisting more particularly of the richest men in Boston. Lt. Govr. Winthrop, Genl. Morton, Mr. Quincy, Mr. Hubbard,2 Appleton, Joy, Parker, Ritchie,3 J. Russell,4 Mr. Brooks and others. Edmund Quincy and I did very well. After a handsome dinner, I rode to Medford in a beautiful evening.
Gardiner Greene, who owned much valuable Boston real estate, had a house on Tremont Street, behind which he developed “a hillside garden that was one of the wonders of the first third of the nineteenth century” (Whitehill, Boston: A Topographical History
, p. 106–107).
Boston Directory, 1829–1830).
William Ritchie, a merchant, who lived at 3 Cambridge Street (same).
Joseph Russell, who lived at 5 Park Street (same).
1828-08-24
This was a warm day and I was glad to keep the shelter of the house during the whole of it. Amused myself by reading large portions of Wilson’s Ornithology, the style of which pleases me, being written con amore.1 In the afternoon Sidney Brooks and his wife with her sister, and Wm. Worthington of Washington came out together in a carriage. I was surprised to see the last mentioned, the others were expected. They remained and drank tea here. Sidney looks thin and unwell. The evening and night were exceedingly warm.
Alexander Wilson, American Ornithology, 9 vols., Phila., 1808–1814.
1828-08-25
I felt the heat of this day more severely than that of any other this summer. It was scorching in the midst of brick walls. Returned to Boston in the morning and passed the day mostly at the Office doing nothing. Took a cold bath but it heated me so much to return from it that I derived little benefit from it. Thomas passed much of the afternoon with me. I had intended remaining in Boston, but the heat and the impossibility of getting lodgings prevailed over the Dame Blanche.1 Rode to Quincy. Moonlight.
The opera by The Oxford Companion to Music, London, 1955).
1828-08-26
Rode into Boston, John being with me, the weather being exceedingly warm. Morning at the Office, but it was too warm to read any 273Law, and I decided upon taking a bath. This occupied pretty much all the morning, after which I dined with John at the Exchange Coffee House. Met Lt. F. C. Hall of the Marines who amused us though at his own expence.1 He had taken rather fully of the grape. After all this was over I rode to Medford. Found Abby well and walked to the partings with her. Evening very warm, making a succession of hotter days than any this season.
Francis C. Hall, a second lieutenant in the marine corps (
Mass. Register, 1828, p. 214).