"Will it really unroll to us at some future time? Aside from the
gratification of the affections in another world, that of the intellect
must be great if it is enlarged and its desires are the same.
"Nov. 24, 1854. Yesterday James Freeman Clarke, the biographer of
Margaret Fuller, came into the Atheneum. It was plain that he came to
see me and not the institution.... He rushed into talk at once, mostly
on people, and asked me about my astronomical labors. As it was a kind
of flattery, I repaid it in kind by asking him about Margaret Fuller. He
said she did not strike any one as a person of intellect or as a
student, for all her faculties were kept so much abreast that none had
prominence. I wanted to ask if she was a lovable person, but I did not
think he would be an unbiassed judge, she was so much attached to him.
"Dec. 5, 1854. The love of one's own sex is precious, for it is neither
provoked by vanity nor retained by flattery; it is genuine and sincere.
I am grateful that I have had much of this in my life.
"The comet looked in upon us on the 29th. It made a twilight call,
looking sunny and bright, as if it had just warmed itself in the
equinoctial rays. A boy on the street called my attention to it, but I
found on hurrying home that father had already seen it, and had ranged
it behind buildings so as to get a rough position.
"It was piping cold, but we went to work in good earnest that night, and
the next night on which we could see it, which was not until April.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50