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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1981, PAGE Il Our diarites will preserve our way of i*fe for the future lum What do dtiaries mean to you? Have you ever 1kept one, a diary, a log or records of any kind? A lew lines a day could be enough and this would provide you with a lifetime of information about you and yours. Our libraries and book stores are filed i th such; famous historical diaries and memoirs w ich give us a better understanding of our past. Weather records are important too and business records are invaluable to history buffs. There are fascinating diaries kept by both the farnous and infamous. Queen Victoria asked her daughter to destroy her personal writings as soon as she died which I think might be a good rule for many people. Misunderstandings and wrong judgments are so easy to make and impossible to correct. We cannot always look. into another person's heart and know the truth. To make assumptions about private words can lead to disaster. A great deal of history has corne to us through diaries. One was lef t by Thomas Dryden, a farmer in Whitby Township, who was a councillor frorn 1861 to 1864. 0f himself he wrote, "I made an ass of myseif atleast twice. " He no doubt was referring to his council duties! He kept records of the weather, his farmn crops and his trips to town in his horse and buggy. Another well known figure, Mackenzie King, lef t a raft of papers which allowed a lot of us to nod our heads and say, "yes, we knew lie was a character." His life now is an open book to ail and sundry. For the farnilies, widows, widowers as the case may be, children and grandchildren, it rnust be a sad thing to read such things about a loved one. Lord Moran's book about Sir Winston Churchill is a case in point and revelations about Eisenhower and Roosevelt rnust have brought grief to their families. Loyalty to their own is a strong point with most people even though they may have second thoughts about some things. To publish is to put it down forever and a day. So these revelations are often a sad experience with long lasting effects but often put books higli on the best seller's list. A log of the weather is kept by many people in- cluding my husband. This can be helpful if yqu are a gardener or a boatmnan. 0f course, nothing could have helped save our gardens this past winter after such unusual weather. The losses are very bad and can be seen wherever you go. We have almost lost three Japanese Maples, my favourites and we hope with lots of care to bring atleast two through the crisis. To sit after dark and look through the win- dow at these trees with lights under thern, preferably red and amber to me is heaven. Wasted hours, hardly not when looking at something as beautiful as those graceful irnbs and dainty leaves. I had one barometer rny husband, three, s0 now, we have four which means we are always stopping sornewhere to tap the glass. Even the gran- dchildren do it, they stop and look, tap the glass and make some remark about the weather. We also have a barograph something I knew nothing about but I arn learning. This is a recording barorneter which provides useful weather information such as the rise and fal of barometric pressure which together with the magnitude of the change provides useful weather information. This is useful and often a necessity for skippers of motor cruisers and sailboats. Depen- ding on the detail of data recorded weather predic- tions can be made and if a log is kept it gives in- teresting comparisons between succeeding seasons. Much of our information about the early settlers has corne down to us frorn diaries. Just a few notes on a regular basis gave us prices of clothing and food, news about churches and stores, social gatherings and aIl or some of the local gossip. Sarnuel Pepy's diaries provide us with a rather hilarious account of London England in the 160's. What fun when compared to often dry old history books! of mens ctothing for I FATHER'S DAY! So much for history. What about your own? Some parents keep records of their chîldren in a very detailed forrn. We ail think we will neyer forget the baby's first laugli or the first word, the day, the month and the year but af ter a time our memory fades and it is forgotten. Generally the first child is well covered but the others pale by comparison. A few lines a day may seem unnecessary to a young, busy mother but what a bonus for the child later on. Most of us throw out a lot of things we should keep even thougli we think at the time that it is aIl super- fluous. Love letters and such! As time goes on we migît enjoy reliving our lives again through the written Word. Many people keep diaries while travelling as I have done. Once whule in Europe for almost a year I wrote a lot of letters and some of rny friends kept them and after our return they were given to me with admonitions by several to start writing and have them published. That I would neyer have'done but now I would rnany years later! Friends 0f ours who travelled for a year and a haîf had a novel and thoughtful way of keeping a sick person busy and well inforrned. Before they lef t they gave this person a shoe bag with the name of each rnonth over a pocket and the promise of sen- à g a post card every day. Tlhey did, a record of their journey, a diary of their whereabouts and their experiences. Can you imagine the excitement this generated in the hospital? For patient and staff alike, expec- tations of what rnight arrive the following day. After their return they were given ail the cards and this became their diary of the trip with coloured pic- tures to boot. An extra bonus was the stamps, no doubt given to an avid starnp collector, probably a farnily member.- This little exercise brought joy to sorneone who was ill, gave the travel1ers a record in detail of thàt tirne and added to sorneone's stamp collection. Old post cards I understand are bought and sold and sorne have become collector's items and bring rather h igh prices. So who knows if you become well known or famnous your thoughts on paperý may become a valuable and part of your estate. Undefeated champ. Once aaintIie Rabýbit DiesEl lias the best fuel economy Àr )in Canada i>mpg* (5.01/100 km) Rotn '~beoýo"ppo.e ,.%otC.aat Rbbit Dies ©Don't settie for les. OWSCO Anf"I ..dre WC2[jd-ýtEo4m VWAUDI .IIT _____668-9383 "W 361.128 Aard Wnner IHWY 401 M. D A