ENPages
14 Twas a glorious morning we sat on the guards in the sunshine & I wished I was going down with my bride for Columbus how glorious a thing is sunshine, & how glorious such anticipations I left Betty on the Ferry boat sad to part with Sophy hope she'll be back with Miss Mary went to the P. O. no letter, save one from Caldwell he is going to get married has no cash & wants some, am glad to hear of his approach to the nuptial state Last Dr Drake's lecture & [???st] of Dr Bayless' Dr Caroland called at my office with me a few minutes Returning from over the river, I was right glad to find my books come, the room quite full of the half disgorged boxes John & Legh Page looked at them we unpacked & put them on the shelves, they make a fine array John's books & mine will make a good library & Father will give us so many valuable works December 7th Friday The snow is rattling against the piece of brown paper which fills the empty place in our sash once occupied by the stovepipe winter begins to show his silver beard It has been very cold all day the water freezing in the gutters, & hanging & fringing icicles along the side of the ferry boat I got a letter from Mr Thuston today the bridge stock is worth only 5 dollars a share, & that can't be [gott] that has proved a poor investment of father's; the letter was very affectionately expressed called on Dr Drake today to tell him of my determination to live in Columbus & come after Betty next Fall or the ensuing Spring he wasn't in, so I wrote off on a half sheet of foolscap tonight, my views & intentions, I hope with the [???] to spare the task of telling them I view it as a disagreeable one, for I owe him much, & he has set his heart on my staying here but I must go & live near Father & Mother John & I will go to work with the determination to succeed & we will do it I spoke with Betty about it tonight Oh! would that I could wed her now & carry her to the balmy south with me John speaks of going via Appalachicola across the Gulf a [cap??] idea we can carry all our books with us John suffered from hearburn & colic tonight I went to Landrum's & bot a vial of brandy for him to his relief
15 December 8th Saturday The snowy mantle of winter lay all about out doors this morning has been dripping & slipping & slushing all day, what a wet, dirty, comfortless sample of climate an immense pork house, lard, fresh meat, sausages &c burnt up yesterday afternoon &c Read the account of the Webster tragedy of Boston today, 'tis appallingly horrible found out that the freight bill of the Diadan was $7 instead of 9; borrowed the cash from Mr McGuffey Mr P. pd me $5 this afternoon also I called on Dr Drake this morning; revaccinated Nelly & Parker Campbell & gave Dr D. my views & intentions with regard to settling in Columbus; he acquiesced perfectly with them, & gave me kind advice with regard to my course there; entered into my prospects with kind interest; he is a good man & a good friend I did some writing for him, delivered some notes for him, & called in at Mrs Bayless' heard of the death of sweet little Molly Brown it grieved me inexpressibly Went to the P. O. waited for the mail to open, for more than 1/2 an hour & then got a letter for John from Julia & Pres Jane & her little ones have come father is there ill yet & desponding we must cheer him up I long to be near them Thaddy had gone to St Andrews' Bay to [re???ct] his health, I trust that he will be reinvigorated I dined at Mr McGuffey's he was sorry to hear of my determination to settle in Columbus, he is truly a good & kind & lovely man, the warm interest he expressed in me, was very cheering to my heart delightful, listened to Dr Bayless, on the vital principles of muscle &c Went to Dental College after dinner Saw Dr Mendenhall exhibit corpuscules of blood thro' his microscope saw John's work & went over the river had to wait long & tediously on the ferryboat they were transporting hogs fat, steaming with exhalations & refractory to get on & off the boat My large india rubbers slipped my heels at every step there the [m?????] I spoke to Mr & Mrs Page about my future They both, especially Mrs P. expressed much sorrow that it must be so I spent the evening there till 8 1/2 o'clock with my dear Betty making me a watchfob pocket, we eat come molasses candy
Jno & I wrote a letter to Julia [???let] the "dear People"
16 December 9th Sunday What can be done today shd never be put off till tomorrow this was taught solemly from the pulpit I [brot] it up incidentlly, in reference to my Journal 'tis Monday night or rather Tuesday morning 25 minutes past 12; my hands & toes are cold, & my head tired with a complicated trigonometrical sum, I ought to be in bed instead of having these two pages to write I wrote a letter to Mother Sabbath mor ning mailed it & one to Julia as we went to church John & I went to hear Mr Stockton on 6th St near the college & what a magnificent discourse did we listen to; he is truly an inspired orator I was carried away completely by his overpowering demonstrations of the truth his lofty soaring & searching appeals his every gesture & expression is so beautifully perfect I was so shocked so moved with pity for a man, who after such a thrilling sermon, whilst Mr S. was appealing in an awfully solemn manner to the Throne of Grace in prayer, who sat by me drumming a rub-a-dub on his hat; oh poor soul How I felt my property of grace my darkness & blindness Oh Lord enlighten my darkness & keep, preserve me in the light I dined with John, at Mr Kibby's the dinner was ex cellent we stopped at the store of the Pearl St House to thaw our fingers whilst the P. Office was opening, but nothing was for us from today's mail We both crossed to Newport where we spent the remainder of the day Betty staid at home with us all the rest went to chuch; the afternoon glided smoothly & gladly away after supper we all sat in the parlor Mr P. & myself entered into a long and (to me) interesting conversation on the moral & intellectual train of youth the moral & intellectual phenomena of children & adults &c &c Betty gave me the copy of Emerson's Essays 2nd series which Sue Bullitt lent me so long ago in Louisville I had lent to Mrs P. & she had forgotten to return them tho' I regret it, I am not sorry to get the book again Betty gave us our watch pockets & John a copy of [Prov] Philosophy we ate some apples Mrs P. gave us some ginger [??]
17 December 10th Monday [Eh???] what a climate is this I yearn for the balmy skies of the south on such a day as this It has been snowing snowing snowing the live long day, the ceaseless floating down of the flakes has covered our benign mother Earth with a good six inch snowy mantilla [very indice sub???] came into good [sequisition] I found a call on my slate last night to go to Mr Flinn's just over the way went this morning, & found I had lost a job the pulling a tooth for Mrs F. told her I'd be glad to pull any others that might need it Just befoe attending to the above call, as John had just gone out, a nice tidy Irish woman Margaret Wylie came in with a sick baby covered up under shawl I examined the poor little thing & prescribed my professional duties are becoming troublesomely frequent; have a bit of a mind to take down my sign Bot some crackers & sugar this morning Dr Drake lec tured on Subacute Hepatitis a very spirited lecture comments on Dr D. are useless, 'tis a treat to listen always, when he lectures extempore as he now does Dr Bayless lectured on the muscles, coverings, fascia etc of the abdomen, getting no farther in the musc. system than the external oblique Mrs Page gave me some buttered biscuits to bring home with me this afternoon I was introduced to Prof. Wright & Dr Davis this morning, by Dr Bayless threw a snowball at Betty when leaving saw a sleigh, whch crossed ferry at same time with myself boys sledding it all about town I fell down in the street in the snow this morning cor Walnut & 5th No letters today Mr McGuffey may have some for us I could not get into his office Have been working on Index & Trigonometry till this late hour was interrupted in studies (Jno & I) by a visit from Mr Massey, who boards at Mr Goforth's he brot his flute, does'nt play well is going to Florida for his health we talked much about Fla I see in my Journal Kept at Fort Jackson, that this day 12 months ago, I received my first professional call; tis 12 min past 1 o'clock
18 December 11th Tuesdsy Half past eleven bad hours these & cold fingers the fire is low I don't like this dirty coal & my fingers ex sanguified from the lack of calorie John is puffing away in bed & I'll follow his example a bright day it has been dazzlingly so from the radiation from the snow when crossing the ferry & gazing on the soft, hazy, glorious sky, I was trans ported to the land of bright sunny clime to which I expect to return ere long I can't like this freezing, benumbing weather my ears & nasal protuberance almost cracked off from the biting frostiness of the air this morning I wrote on the Index & Trigonometry till 11; went to college met there Norris, my old roommate of Louisville days with whom I boarded at Mr Prest's was glad to see him has married & practicing up here in Ohio somewhere Saw Dr Bascom he sat by Dr Bayless during his lecture Recd a letter from Mrs Wood from Pt Jackson a very pleasant letter in many senses she wishes to pay me my bill, & I am glad enough, have just begun a letter to her new scholar at school today Hawkins by name carried my Port Jackson Journal to Betty to let her see it She came over with me to Mrs Sloo's, see Byrdie I staid in there but a moment stopped as we were going up to see the shell monument at Shires of Washington she lent me a Guardian, with a piece by herself in it "Remember now thy creature in the days of youth" December 12th Wednesday The coldest day yet my ears & nose [I] feared wd drop off on my way to college Dr Bayless lectured on Inguinal Hernia very interesting Dr Drake [has] changed his lecture hour to 9 o'clock I went to his room & wrote in Index till 12 (Dr Bayless' hour) gave Byrd an Ollendorf German with Key I shall not study it going to Columbus will not need it Betty wrapped my neck up in a shawl whch I must return to [By]