December 24 + 

Everyone I suppose engaged in this irony of Xmas. What a solemn lunatic the world is. + 

Walked awhile in a beautiful lane close by, washed hard and clean and deeply channelled by the recent rain. On the hilltop, I could look right across the valley to the uplands, where on the sky line a few Firs stood in stately sequestration from common English Oaks, like a group of ambassadors in full dress. In the distance a hen clucked, I saw a few Peewits wheeling and watched the smoke rising from our cottage perpendicularly into the motionless air. There was a clement quiet and a clement warmth, and in my heart a burst of real happiness that made me rich even beside less unfortunate beings and beyond what I had ever expected to be again. + 