109
days!   Aunt Bessie, too, is sick; her child,
a girl of 13, taller than her mother.       John Mit-
chell at Cambridge, Minnie a governess in the north
of England, the rest of the family �not very prosper-
ous� in Australia � their fat, selfish mother caring
little about them, I trow.           A strong item about
the Heaths. �Both� Mrs H�s children dead. �Tilly�
at a finishing school.       Rosa writes principally of
Albert Smith�s Chinese Entertainment.    Drawing
& writing.   A dash at �Paul Gower.�   Up till 2.
  23.  Wednesday.  Drawing till the afternoon,
then down town; to Pic, Constellation and Nic-
nax Offices.   A lovely spring day.   Writing & draw-
ing till 12 P.M.        A letter from Mary Anne this
morning.    She is �taking quinine for the ague�; the
boys have left their work on the railroad, little
doing, times gloomy, �about $82� owing her, she owing
a doctor�s bill and for some board; the boys will
have about $153� coming to them.    About $400 were
left unpaid on the farm &c.    A sad look out for them.
  24.  Thursday.  Drawing on wood.   By 5 1/2
down town, looked in at Nic-nax Office, then to Brook-
lyn.  Encountered old Thorpe on the ferry boat � once
F. Leslie�s editor, now of the Custom-house and Spirit
of the Times, into the last of which he has recently
purchased, at Richards� death.    Walked awhile with
him in Brooklyn; anon to Oxford St.   Grace�s eight-
eenth birthday.   Haney there, and in the course of the
evening, Mort Thomson, Ed Wells and Cahill.