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small sketches (I only took my small box) but it is doubtful whether I will ever use any of them I found Eastman very nicely situated in his house at Nantucket. The house and all its surroundings are very plain. All the furniture is what he has picked up there and he has no carpets and no useless furniture but it is very pleasant and cozy. He has a good large studio and had one fine study which he had made up in the town; a grape arbor with hollyhocks. We took a walk thro' a part of the quaint old town and I should have liked to have staid longer and seen more of this very peculiar place. Numbers of people are beginning to go there now and in a year or two, I dare say it will be a regular watering place. On the Steam Boat going there I got in a conversation with a young man whose name I think is H. S. Barnard. He had been a Presbyterian but had been turned out of the church for heresy. He had no belief in the bible as an inspired work and gave me several instances of what he considered to be misstatements and fallacious as well as bad morals. I would have liked to talk more with him as he was very intelligent and besides his religious dictums he gave me some very curious information regarding Spiritualism. He disgusted one man with his frank and free criticism of the Old Testament but I confess I was much interested.

Thursday Aug 29. I tried to paint a moonrise on the ocean which I saw at Gloucester, on Monday but it was a failure. I tried it again on Tuesday and succeeded a little better. Yesterday I wrote to Eastman Johnson and today Gertrude and I each wrote to Gussie. I wrote to Mr. Dorman a few days ago that I would send his picture in a short time. On Tuesday I busied myself in getting some strawberry