[Manchester—Monday, 2 August 1875]
Monday. Mrs Silsbee has gone—soft clouded day. Mrs Leonowens & I enjoyed the quiet together. Richard H. Dana Jr came to get a newspaper. Servants all gone or going. This seems the only drawback to the luxury of living here that servants do not like it—the solitude & silence seem to weigh upon them though they do not know why, and they run as horses do out of an open pasture if left to stand for any length of time.
“Longfellow is only a poet” said Dana. “He never philosophizes—strange it should be so—he does not approve of killing animals for food and yet he eats animal food. This is a thing we should make up our minds about. I believe it is intended man should take life according to his judgment even the life of other men some times.”
