I will retire with the retiring year,
wishing to all a good-night, and joyful eyes to behold the dawn of the
new year.

THURSDAY, February 22. Hear the distant report of cannon in
commemoration of the birth of George Washington, which is said to have
occurred on the twenty-second day of February, 1732. It is presumable
that those who find pleasure in public demonstrations of this sort are
moved by what they regard as patriotic feelings and principles. Let
their motives and enjoyments spring from what they may, they have a
lawful right to celebrate the anniversary of his birth in any civil
way they may choose. But I have a somewhat higher conception of true
patriotism than can be represented by the firing of guns which give
forth nothing but meaningless sound. I am glad, however, that these
guns report harmless sound, and nothing more. If some public speakers
would do the same, it might be better both for them and their hearers.
My highest conception of patriotism is found in the man who loves the
Lord his God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Out of
these affections spring the subordinate love for one's country; love
truly virtuous for one's companion and children, relatives and
friends; and in its most comprehensive sense takes in the whole human
family. Were this love universal, the word _patriotism_, in its
specific sense, meaning such a love for one's country as makes its
possessors ready and willing to take up arms in its defense, might be
appropriately expunged from every national vocabulary.

Perform the marriage ceremony of Isaac Brady and Leanna Hulvey, at
John Hulvey's.

SATURDAY, March 3. Night meeting at John Mongold's on Lost River. I
speak from Luke 10:42. TEXT.--"But one thing is needful."

Various interpretations have been given of this text. Having given it
a good deal of thought myself, from the belief that a right
understanding of the passage is all-important, I will endeavor to make
clear to your minds what appears to me the Lord's meaning. All of you
take time to-morrow to read the tenth chapter of Luke, and you may see
many things I will not take time to notice to-night.

"But one thing is needful." If one were to come to each of you
privately to-night, and say to you: "I have plenty of this world's
goods to give away, tell me what you need, and I will supply you," and
remove all doubt from your mind of his meaning to do what he said, we
might be surprised at the varied answers