Having been almost becalmed for several days, the doldrum weather ended
with a heavy rain last night. Going on deck after breakfast, we found
the ship driving ahead nine knots instead of three. It was a merry
sight. I betook myself to the hammock, and lay there till twelve, the
captain and one of his sisters sitting by, writing home, and the other
reciting Virgil to me, and learning, at my request, Hannah’s song (I
Sam. II.) It was one of the choice forenoons of the voyage. We gained
a half day on the ship’s best passage, and by one o’clock the wind
increased, so that we are now only one day and a half behind the
enviable time. Pleasant as rest is, one cannot suppress the desire to
be at work.