but the wind blows off shore, so she will not come any nearer to us.

"Inside of the house we amuse ourselves in various ways. F.'s family and
ours form a club meeting three times a week, and writing 'machine
poetry' in great quantities. Occasionally something very droll puts us
in a roar of laughter. F., E., and K. are, I think, rather the smartest,
though Mr. M. has written rather the best of all. At the next meeting,
each of us is to produce a sonnet on a subject which we draw by lot. I
have written mine and tried to be droll. K. has written hers and is
serious.

"I am sadly tried by this state of things. I cannot hear from Cambridge
(the Nautical Almanac office), and am out of work; it is cloudy most of
the time, and I cannot observe; and I had fixed upon just this time for
taking a journey. My trunk has been half packed for a month.

"January 23. Foreseeing that the thermometer would show a very low point
last night, we sat up until near midnight, when it stood one and
one-half below zero. The stars shone brightly, and the wind blew freshly
from west north-west.

"This morning the wind is the same, and the mercury stood at six and
one-half below zero at seven o'clock, and now at ten A.M. is not above
zero. The Coffin School dismissed its scholars. Miss F. suffered much
from the exposure on her way to school.

"The 'Inquirer' came out this morning, giving the news from Europe
brought by the steamer which lies off 'Sconset. No coal has yet been
carried to the steamer, the carts which started for 'Sconset being
obliged to return.