This period is definitely the calm before the storm. Reading these stories and diary entries, one would not suspect a Civil War in less than three years. Sure, the sectional tension is still there. But right now, nothing is happening to bring it out into the open.
Over the next months we will learn what many of those who will become major characters later on are doing to prepare as the clouds form on the horizon.
Happy Thanksgiving, gentlemen. Remember Sarah Josepha Hale!