Cambridge.
Ther [Thermometer] Wednesday, Dec. 12, 1917 [December 12, 1917] Wea [Weather]
10 [degrees], 15 [degrees] Dull.
Cloudy & somewhat misty with
continued bitter cold but comparatively
little wind. It looks like snow
to-night and the Weather Bureau
man predicts it for to-morrow.
  Garden birds: a White-throated Sparrow
chirping in rhododendrons just outside
my study window; a Chickadee heard
in the lilacs & a Dowy W. [Downy Woodpecker] in the Jungle.
  Spent entire day at my Museum
desk working at Introduction &
making little or no progress.
Once more I find myself swamped
in a sea of alternative words &
sometimes any final selection from
which seems impossible. Try as I 
will they cannot be made to 
fit together so as to express
effectively what I desire to say.
  C. [Caroline Brewster] again confined to her room
yet outwardly cheerful & interested in
everything & everybody. Usual
evening reading to me in hall, by E. [Elizabeth R. Simmons]

Cambridge
Ther [Thermometer] Thursday, Dec. 13, 1917 [December 13, 1917] Wea [Weather]
10 [degrees] Fair
Almost uninterruptedly sunny, yet with
almost ceaseless light snowfall proceeding 
from an apparently almost cloudless sky
- something I have not known happen
to such an extent before. The air was
nearly windless and very chilly.
  Garden birds: A Robin in Parkman
apple tree, a White-throat [White-throated Sparrow] on the sill
of my Museum window, a Chickadee
close to it among rhododendrons.
  Working all day at Introduction, through
forenoon without avail, in afternoon
with somewhat better results.
Had a half-hour in C's [Caroline Brewster] room 
after breakfast & again after supper.
Usual evening reading in hall.
  Percy has been selling apples
from the farm to Cambridge provision
men for reasonably good prices
- $2. a bushel for Northern Spys
1.50 [a bushel for] Balwins [Baldwin apple]