that it is there--by something connected with the idea [of a friend].

* * * * * *

I do not believe that I should be patient here if I were not engaged in a
righteous and heaven-blessed way of life. When I was in the Custom-House
and then at Salem I was not half so patient. . . . .

We had some tableaux last evening, the principal characters being
sustained by Mr. Farley and Miss Ellen Slade. They went off very
well. . . . .

I fear it is time for me--sod-compelling as I am--to take the field
again.


May 11th.--. . . . This morning I arose at milking-time in good trim for
work; and we have been employed partly in an Augean labor of clearing out
a wood-shed, and partly in carting loads of oak. This afternoon I hope
to have something to do in the field, for these jobs about the house are
not at all to my taste.


June 1st.--. . . . I have been too busy to write a long letter by this
opportunity, for I think this present life of mine gives me an antipathy
to pen and ink, even more than my Custom-House experience did. . . . .
In the midst of toil, or after a hard day's work in the goldmine, my
soul obstinately refuses to be poured out on paper. That abominable
gold-mine! Thank God, we anticipate getting rid of its treasures in the
course of two or three days! Of all hateful places that is the worst,