221.
mouth-piece for unmerited venom.    Now I�m healthier
in body and mind, and not ill prepared for conversatio-
nal tilting.   Sol lives in too palpable a glass house
not to afford awful scope for well directed pebbles.  Ac-
cordingly when he comments on my �loathsome appearance,�
mimics my speech, predicts miserable failure of my book
&c.   I touch on his Israelitish descent, general industry,
and cheerfulness under Brown�s displeasure (!)   Waud
says little.      I go not into the basement now for
my waited ten-minutes after supper.     Levison is
ill � quinsy.     He, wife, and the mutual production
have been to & returned from Philadelphia.     I get
instalments of proofs of the Humorist Poetry Compila-
tion, from day to day, and am making Indexes.
T�will appear with Parton�s name as Editor, at the
publishers ruling, mine being �honorably mentioned� in the
Preface.      In the current number of Blackwood is
a fearful onslaught in Parton�s Life of Greeley �
telling him in so many words he�s �a born fool�.     I
have criticized the critic in a paper for �Life Illus-
trated.�    Little Hillard called one evening, and was
mighty friendly.   Yewel & Arnold came, on another.
I, by the assistance of little Edge hunted up Carroll,
and got particulars of Med. Student matters for book.
Also I�ve visited a Chinese Boarding House � in Cherry
Street.  Book grows apace.       Correspondence kept 
up, as wont.                 Little Edge is a character, whom