I am
now going over the work the third time. The simplest forms of the verb
seem to be the first and third persons singular of the imperative mood.
Ennui, in situations like the present, being isolated and shut up as it
were from the world, requires to be guarded against. The surest
preventive of it is employment, and diversity in employment. It has been
determined to-day to get up a periodical sheet, or _jeu d'esprit_
newspaper, to be circulated from family to family, commencing on the
first of January. Mrs. Thompson asked me for a name. I suggested the
"Northern Light." It was finally determined to put this into Latin, and
call it Aurora Borealis.
_28th_. Visits make up a part of the winter's amusements. We owe this
duty to society; but, like other duties, which are largely connected
with enjoyment, there is a constant danger that more time be given up to
it than is profitable. Conversation is the true index of feeling. We
read wise and grave books, but are not a whit better by them, than as
they introduce and fix in our minds such principles as shall shine out
in conversation or acts.
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