Dorothea came home on Monday & Nicholas on Tuesday. He has grown but was looking rather pale & thin, & much subdued. There is a great difference in him, no doubt a result of the discipline.

The roads for the last few days have been fearful, a sheet of smooth ice, one evening it rained & then froze.

This morning we took the children in to Lanson to do their Xmas shopping. I was in Cater’s shop with them for more than an hour & Dorothea was at Slees buying Sunday School prizes. Philippa is a great anxiety on these occasions as she has a habit of darting out of the shop suddenly & in to the street. It was with a feeling of much relief & exhaustion when we packed them all in to the car & started homewards. The roads were in a fearful state & we had a perilous journey.