I am a firm believer of reaction and reaction and reaction. If I am in a grumpy mood, as often happens, I don’t mind it so much for I know that I’ll swing over to the opposite extreme in a few hours. School-work is the best thing to keep anyone level, and so it is with me. The reaction of the work during the day, and a few moments with my stamps being held out to me if I get everything done in time, always keeps me in the best humour. In the hols. it is much harder to feel really satisfied. Goethe says: ‘Nichts ist schwerer zu ertragen als eine Reihe von glücklichen Tagen’ [Nothing is harder to bear than a series of happy days], and I find it to be literally true. I often think, too, that the reason of the lives of so many great musicians being so sad is because the immense joy given them in the creation of such glorious music must have been compensated for in other ways to keep their lives level. – Got a telegram from Fr. Pat to say he is coming on Friday. Telegram came in 2 hours from Paris! Read to-day the French destroyed another section of Damascus. The savages! – Went to Arthur who is still in uncertain condition. We all played ball in open.
