"The picture, of course, represents the dreariness of winter, and my
feelings were moved by the chilled appearance of the little children,
and the pathetic countenance of little Peregrine White, who, considering
that he was born in the harbor, is wonderfully grown up before they are
welcomed by Samoset. According to history little Peregrine was born
about December 6 and Samoset met them about March 16; so he was three
months old, but he is plainly a forward child, for he looks up very
knowingly. Such a child had immortality thrust upon him from his birth.
It must have had a deadening influence upon him to know that he was a
marked man whether he did anything worthy of mark or not. He does not
seem to have made any figure after his entrance into the world, though
he must have created a great sensation when he came.
"October 17. I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it
is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven
years ago when I first did this kind of work. To be sure, I have only
once in the time computed a parabolic orbit; but it seems to me that I
know no more in general. I think I am a little better thinker, that I
take things less upon trust, but at the same time I trust myself much
less. The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so
limited in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize
only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.
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