Is evening star, setting at 9:24, 8:32 and 7:28 p. m. on the 1st, 15th
and 30th, respectively. Its motion, 1° 2′ 37″, is direct. Diameter, 2.6″.
On the 21st, at 2:00 a. m., 4° 20′ south of Mercury, and on the same day
will set about fifteen minutes later than said planet. On the 26th, at
8:27 a. m., 44′ north of moon.
* * * * *
EARNESTNESS.—Without earnestness there is nothing to be done in life; yet
even among the people whom we call men of culture, but little earnestness
is often to be found; in labors and employments, in arts, nay, even in
recreations, they plant themselves, if I may say so, in an attitude of
self-defense; they live, as they read a heap of newspapers, only to be
done with them. They remind one of that young Englishman at Rome, who
told, with a contented air, one evening in some company, that “to-day
he had despatched six churches and two galleries.” They wish to know
and learn a multitude of things, and not seldom exactly those things
with which they have the least concern; and they never see that hunger
is not appeased by snapping at the air. When I become acquainted with a
man my first inquiry is: With what does he occupy himself, and how, and
with what degree of perseverance? The answer regulates the interest I
take in that man for life.… I reverence the individual who understands
distinctly what he wishes; who unweariedly advances, who knows the means
conducive to his object, and can seize and use them. How far his object
may be great or little, may merit praise or censure, is a secondary
consideration with me.—_Goethe._