Washington Thursday Feb’y 5th 1863.
I hardly know how to fill out a page tonight. It has been cold and Stormy having snowed most of the day, tonight the snow is more like rain and the weather has moderated. I was on the Ave after I left the office and bought a pair of rubbers, then came home directly to my room, which I have not left since except for dinner. I have been writing over a couple pages of foolscap upon the Analogy which exists betwen a Nation and an individual. In a Nation the whole Territory may be compared to the body of a man. The inhabitants are the living Soul. The Mountains are the Bones. The Rivers and roads and canals are the veins and arteries. Trade and Commerce is the Blood which circulates through them & the industrial system of the Nation is the real nutriment which gives life and vigor to the body giving to the Blood its sustaining and life giving principle. I pursued the comparison much farther. I also wrote some verses for Julias Album should they suit her. There is no news worthy of notice today. I have been in the office as usual. The concert proved a “Sell” to the Committee. Ostrander deceived them in every way. But has now time to repent as he was arrested before the concert yesterday for obtaining property by false pretenses and is now in Jail. He has been a Clerk in the Land office for something over a year. But his game is up now. Past 11 o’clock.