As noted earlier, Gallison had always devoted much of his journal to intellectual or spiritual life. In keeping with that, detailed descriptions of William Ellery Channing’s sermons fill nearly half of the entries for August, 1819.
Not content to be busy only on Sundays, he also describes a month filled with his other passions, including his intellectual life (writing for the North American Review), family, and Harvard.
At the end of the month, he visited the former President John Adams, in Quincy. Filled with gossip and talk of world affairs, this gathering of notables punctuated a most happy few weeks.