[Manchester—Saturday, 15 July 1871]
Saturday July 15. Half way through this gracious month of Summer. Yesterday “J” went to Wheeler’s Point near Gloucester where Hiram Rich and Mr. Babson, “Tom Folio” are camping out. There he took Chowder with them looking down upon Coffin’s Beach. There was a sudden and thick fog close upon a perfect morning which made the day cool and soft. We passed the afternoon at Glass Head where Dr. Bartol reposes now that Providence has given him a pinch at the end of his “big toe” for jumping on the cars every day for a year after they had started. He was thrown down by the train and his foot slightly injured. He says he has had a vision of sudden death and he intends to learn by experience.
Came today upon the passage in Much Ado About Nothing where Don Pedro says of Beatrice “An if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly”—the origin of Mr. Stowe’s sarcasm upon Mamie Dickens which nobody at the time recognized as Shakspeares but gave the young artist the credit—not even Dickens with his infallible memory.