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21 Father concluded he must go on the first boat & hearing from Rusk that the Southerner was comng up tonight, made preparations for going so I finished my letters to send by him one to Ma, Callie & one to Mrs Shotwell, thanking her for her fine cake acceptab;e present We made a trial shot with our guns, before cleaning his came out [even] Good shooting Betsy's baby had convulsions before supper unexpected I thot twas beginning to improve & so 'twas apparently it commenced sinking almost immediately after & died at about 1/2 after 10 Just about the time that Pa left, I felt deep emotions of sadness on losing this little patient My first experience of the kind Alas how weighty the responsibilities con nected with the practice of medicine I often feel like everything deeply too the man whos calling enables him pleasantly & respectably to earn his bread, withot care or reaponsibility to weigh upon his soul was thinking of the pleasure of such a calling as Thaddy has ahead of him the watchmaker's I am not envious tho' May I be taught to do any doings & pursue my calling as I ought to prepare in this, for a higher sphere of action 'Twas a glorious night resplendently so father had his baggage carried to the Port, & warned by Mr Rusk that the Southerner cd be heard coming now, we went down there It came & he departed wd that I cd have gone with him to pay a short visit to Columbus, 'twould be delightful His visit has been a short & pleasant episode in the history of my residence here too short I shook hands sadly with him (for prting is a sad thing, no matter how short the separation or how slight) & walked back thro' the moonlight A North Carolinian by name Gaskins stopped & took tea here Skipper has come at last for which [Im glad] Thursday Jan 6th I sent a letter thro' Mr Tillinghast, who left here for Marianna this morning, a note to John, telling the news & enquiring about Tom I studied at home, all day Feel the need of it What a lifetime of study is needed, in our profession Edwards & his boys were here a long time today Quite boring in their visits I made him anothe box of pills I cleaned up my room my gun & the macerated head of the rabbit hawk I've been skeleton izing Fixed up the latter Tom came in today, at last, brot by a boy of Skippers (John), who brot a sweet little note from Julia
22 Jan 12th Friday a week's default in my journal Mr Clemons of Columbus surprised me on Saturday morning, (the 6th) by knocking at my door before sunrise a very gladsome surprise as I was going over to Ma rianna today, to return Thaddy the watch I brot over, & attend communion service, we rode over in company, that after noon; found John yet sick Pres getting better, & eating heartily & lively Julia bright & Ellen hearty & Thaddy in good spitrits Attended communion service on the Sabbath Went in the afternoon with Thaddy & Clemons into the cave by the bridge, where we crawled & explored & admired Tom & Mr Clemons horse both vamoosed last night & cd not be found today at all Spent the time very pleasantly at home & sociably Monday it rained steady, steadier, most steady The horses fortunately were caught this morning After dinner Clemons & I saddled up our critters & borrowing clothes that'd bear rain & saddlebags to put our own in, rode forth Went to Bank's, reaching there (9 miles) ere sunset We lodged at Lyfret's, close by Came over next (Tuesday) morning We have hunted & fluted & played backgammon &c [since] then Made backgammon board of a sheet of foolscap, men of buttons & wafers dice out of cedar & for dice boxes, a cupping glass & graduated measure I shot a duck on the [way] raised from the pond above the Port by him & next day another on the pond, & a large hawk which I am skeletonizing He shot a rabbit & sundry partridges &c He left today, just after dinner, on the Boston I went aboard with him loathe to bid him goodbye & longing to be able to go with him Skipper goes to Marianna tomorrow I've just scratched a note for Thaddy to send by him, with the saddlebags & clothes We have had very cold weather ice frost wind &c &c &c
23 Jan 13 Saturday Gave Skipper the saddlebags & clothes to return to Marianna, with a letter to Thaddy I rode up to Jordan's this morning & carried thither a vial of vol. Liniment for little Jane, who is convalescing well Her leg bidding fair to be as useful (I trust) as ever My office was scoured this afternoon During the operation, I hunted a while shot at ducks twice, without success Shot a squirrel which ran wounded into the hollow of a gum tree poor fellow Had a call to see Mrs Owens' daughter Will go tomrrow Jan 14 Sunday Most beautiful morning I rode to Mrs Owens' found her daughter Betsy a stout good looking maid of about 20, very sick prescribed, came home to late dinner Wrote to Miss Mary Jan 15th Monday Rode to Mrs Owens again met the old lady, ere getting there looking for her son, going to Billy Hair's after him, talked about her daughter & returned Dissected at my hawk all the af ternoon Old man Byrd visited me is going to put a flat in below close by Tuesday Jan 16th I've been riding almost all day Have just come in, eaten a pretty hearty supper & concluded to fill up my diary before going to study & then to bed I started with a letter to Miss Mary, one to Ptolemy Harris & one to Mr Wallace (of Tuscaloosa), for Olive Grove No ferryman being at the Ferry, I was about to return, when I found Kumpton's blacksmith's two white men were deputy ferrymen they put me over; the flat is in bad condition rather dangerous the flooring off & one end leaky injured when towed up from Chat tahoochee where it had drifted during the last rise I found 2 letters two sweet ones from Betty, which I read returning treats for the heart The reading making a holiday of the heart one too from Tol Harris strange coincidence just as I was carrying one to him He had written to Louisville forwarded thence to Columbus & thence to Olive Grove with these & a large pocketful of newspapers for Rusk I re turned stopped at Crawford's, left him a paper & letter, & got some Ol Ricini from him I found two calls awaiting my coming
21 another from Miss Betsy Owens, who is [salvated] Sorry to hear it & one from Ballard, who is sick himself As Miss Owens was the prior & probably worst case, tho' a nonpaying one I went there found her quite perplexingly ill prescribed & promised to return tomorrow & then went for Ballard's I had returned from the P O at about 2 o'clock, I eat a hasty few mouthfuls of dinner 'twas dark by the time I repassed from Owens' but I went toward Ballards got beyond Wootens & owing to the darkness & cloudiness of the night, completely lost the trail finding I had to return, I turned Tom's head & gave him the bridle He took an energetic march, directly homewards, needing no guide Great horse that Now I must study awhile before retiring Wednesday Jan 17th I arose before the sun this morning, something rather of the novel order for me, for I am disposed a little to be a lie-abed as the weather becomes milder tho' & I can open all doors, casements &c, dispensing with the aid of pine knots, I do [b????] Immediately after breakfast, I sallied professionally forth, went to Ballard's found him troubled with a carbuncle over the left scapula his wife doctoring it about as well as I could I merely gave my opinion & some hints to Mrs B about the modus operandi of cure she is a wonderfully clever lady a better specimen than can often be found in these parts A Mts Brown came in, who had prescribed a poultice of Baytree root I saw one made, & finding it mucilaginous & apparently emollient, approved of it & wishing to conciliate the old ladies whenever consistent with professional coniderations I went from there to Mrs Owens found Miss Betsy more easy quite sick yet tho' Prescribed & returned just in time for dinner Fixed up my last hawk's skeleton and so forth Felt dosposed to the blues this afternoon; the ground of the matter being, so far as my [?ounding] went to show, a distrust in my professional attainment a sense of my deficiencies, inexperiencce, responsibilities etc Hard study is an antidote Have admin istered it this evening, with a preliminary & most efficient adjuvant a reperusal of Betty's letters
25 Thursday Jan 18th I went to widow Owens again this morning Am getting quite tired of the road, for the very good reason that my labor will meet with no pecuniary remuneration I had the sat isfaction to find Miss Betsy improving The day has been very charming bright & beautiful I have enjoyed my office fixing my hawk some studying talking with Sissy the intelligent little thing &c &c walked to Crawford's & bot some shot, at about sunset took my gun along, crawled scientifically after the ducks but didnt "get a crack at em" Have been commencing "Irving's Columbus", since supper studying for about 2 hours Got sleepy Intend playing little on my flute, reading in Shakespeare, & going to bed Friday Jan 19th Disagreeable day What fickle, versatile phenomena does the weather of this sunny clime present cold & hot balmy & chilly bleak & calm freezing & drizzling dark & sunny &c &c It has been cold & windy all day I rode to Mrs Owens again this morning, found Miss Betsy not so comfortable, owing to the opera tion of physic given yesterday, & to the bleak, inconvenient arrangement of things there a sick person in an house of pine poles, with interstices between each, as wide as the pole itself The wind gambolling wildly through The floor too short for the building so that you might step through at the end no chimney Twas rayther cold riding back Tommy Hair has an outrageous dog I felt wondrously like shooting him as he ferociously assailed Tom's heels today Tom tho' scarcely flexes his ears backwards for such an affair The woods were on fire around Mr Owen's place The long grass burned beautifully Mrs Edwards was here when I returned dined here Had a savory potato pudding or mash or what [???] call it very nice I began Shakespeare's Tempest last night & finished today Sweet Miranda, what a gem of unsophisticated loveliness How few of her sex now re semble her in that feature I found the locale of Storts' oft repeated quotation "ancient fish like smell" I took a nap after dinner was wondrous sleepy am so now cold is a somnorific have been coming [Pa????]