Cambridge
Ther [Thermometer] Sunday, Feb. 11, 1917 [February 11, 1917] Wea [Weather]
8 [degrees] Fine
Clear & very cold but not windy
and hence a fairly comfortable day
out of doors.
  Garden birds. Very few. Heard a Crow
cawing & a Jay uttering its bell note
hitherto unheard this winter. Saw only
House Sparrows perhaps 10 or 12 in number.
  Wrote letters in forenoon. C. [Caroline Brewster] went
in town to St. Paul's Cathedral where
Dean Roumanier [Edmund Swett Rousmaniere] preached an inspiring
sermon relating to preparedness etc.
A large flag was borne in & "America"
sung.
  We had Frank Manning & Alice Allyn
for our guests at dinner. After it
we sat with them in the hall for
above an hour. Sally Fairchild joined
us there & did not refuse a cigarette
Frank & I smoked cigars instead.
E. [Elizabeth R. Simmons] read aloud from "Shirley" to
C. [Caroline Brewster] & me this evening. Both the dogs 
with us, of course.

Cambridge
Ther [Thermometer] Monday, Feb.12, 1917 [February 12, 1917] Wea [Weather]
-4 [degrees] +8 [degrees] (-15 at Concord) Fine
Coldest day of winter thus far, but not
a very windy or at all cloudy one.
The peculiar, whining, grinding sound
of iron-shod wheels on hard frozen snow
coming from direction of Brattle Street at
frequent intervals. Why do we no longer
hear the pistol-like reports attributed 
to the snapping off of contracting nails
which always occured [occurred] more or less often
during cold snaps like this at every
wooden house in our neighbood [neighborhood] forty
or fifty years ago. Such sounds are
unknown here now.
  Garden bird life at lowest ebb.
5 or 6 shivering & dejected House Sparrows
were the only feathered beings seen or
heard about the place all day.
  Wrote letters in forenoon. Worked
on "Umbagog" in afternoon, making
fair progress. Miss Balch at
luncheon. E. [Elizabeth R. Simmons] reading to C. [Caroline Brewster] & me
from "Shirley", this evening.