"And to-day I was amused at reading that one of her party objected to
the introduction of waxed floors into American housekeeping, because she
could seem to see herself down on her knees doing the waxing.

"But of yesterday. I was up before six, made the fire in the kitchen,
and made coffee. Then I set the table in the dining-room, and made the
fire there. Toasted bread and trimmed lamps. Rang the breakfast bell at
seven. After breakfast, made my bed, and 'put up' the room. Then I came
down to the Atheneum and looked over my comet computations till noon.
Before dinner I did some tatting, and made seven button-holes for K. I
dressed and then dined. Came back again to the Atheneum at 1.30, and
looked over another set of computations, which took me until four
o'clock. I was pretty tired by that time, and rested by reading
'Cosmos.' Lizzie E. came in, and I gossiped for half an hour. I went
home to tea, and that over, I made a loaf of bread. Then I went up to my
room and read through (partly writing) two exercises in German, which
took me thirty-five minutes.

"It was stormy, and I had no observing to do, so I sat down to my
tatting. Lizzie E. came in and I took a new lesson in tatting, so as to
make the pearl-edged. I made about half a yard during the evening. At a
little after nine I went home with Lizzie, and carried a letter to the
post-office. I had kept steadily at work for sixteen hours when I went
to bed."




CHAPTER II