Morning as usual. But Wyer interrupted me in my Law and so I lost an hour. The afternoon was entirely occupied in writing an answer to Abby. In the evening I rode out with John. We went to the burying ground on the Eastern branch as I happened to say in going near it that I had never seen it. It will in time be a melancholy monument. Clinton and Gerry
1 are now the most distinguished of those who lie there. The members of Congress have only a simple low block of stone with their names. In treading over remains of useful and distinguished men an awe strikes me which in common places of this sort I never feel. Indeed having diverged a little, my risibles were a little excited by these lines
Weep not, my wife, nor mother dear
Your son’s not dead but sleeping here.
Billiards in the evening.