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one eve during Lucy's stay and we had another pleasant home meeting to which we would gladly have admitted you. Joseph accepts no invitations, and makes no calls, has not been here except to go up into my chamber for a year, spends as usual all his spare time in reading. Where he boards there is a young lady - a niece of the family, & as I hear, quite interesting I called to make her acquaintance last week and was pleased with her, she has a fine pleasant black eye, a beautiful forehead, a very sweet expression, and a delicate complexion deeply scarred with the small-pox. the only thing that saves her from being handsome: I am earnestly hoping that Joseph will feel a desire to render himself agreeable to her, if he should be downright and deeply in love, I should have hopes of his recovery from his present unsocial, recluse, nobody-caring-for habits. No matter I was going to say, whether fortunate or unfortunate in any attachment; the calling out of his 'soul', would do him good, would rouse the morbid slugglishness of his affections and sympathies, and make him a fellow-being. Sometimes I am quite out of patience with him for his oddity, and sometimes I make allowance for him: he has a deal of pride and will take no part in any thing unless it be the first and foremost one, and he has not confidence enough in his own powers of pleasing, and of his own faculties of easy conversation, in which it seems to me he might excel from his quick sense of the ridiculous, and ready discrimination, or in other words strong common sense united with nice and delicate perceptions, though this last in him he makes an effort to blunt at least so far as it has any connection with manifesting feelings. There was quite a snow storm yesterday, cold windy March weather- the drifts are plenty at Milo: without doubt. We have had no sleighing here till within two or three weeks and very, little cold weather; great injury to lumbering operations.