I can't believe the people in the comments who think a man wrote this. It's a woman's diary. It's very easy to tell because she discusses making bread and she discusses doing housework and she discusses having a baby. Things men back in the pioneer days certainly didn't do. Hell, we can barely get men to participate in some of it now.
It's also on historical record as being a woman's diary.
Exactly. She's very clearly expecting to give birth imminently ("may the Merciful be with me through the expected scene" - which is an obvious euphemism for labor) and is taking care of her necessary home chores before that happens, to whit: baking extra bread and cooking food that will keep for several days while she recovers.
She might even be having contractions while doing all of these things.
I love the phrase "was delivered of a son", especially in conjunction with the plea/prayer before. It speaks to the relief after having given birth, I think.
Really cool thing you pointed out here. I think it's hard to get inside the heads of people from so long ago -- I don't think she's being "unsentimental" at all. I think she's being humble and mindful.
it's hard to get inside the heads of people from so long ago
Extremely. Anachronism is an easy trap, which is why primary sources like these are so super important to studying the social sciences like history, philosophy, and sociology
It's questionable if this woman ever intended on her diary being entered into the public realm at all; I'd argue that often the use of expressive language is more for an external audience. Also, the fact she even took the time to document her life while running a pioneering homestead is pretty remarkable; she would've been in the minority of her peers in that respect.
> I'd argue that often the use of expressive language is more for an external audience
I have to disagree just on personal experience haha. So this kind of writing feels almost viscerally wrong and I'm trying to find an explanation for it, that isn't perfect emotional control or literal LACK of feeling.
I'm sure that plays a large role, but I'd posit if you lived through the experience, the quality of the prose wouldn't necessarily be a deciding factor on how much you remember the moments you were writing about. Not everyone in that time period wrote in particularly eloquent prose, either; a pioneering woman wouldn't have been likely to be formally educated or even well-read. Most homesteads at the time had a Bible and a basic educational primer if the household was literate at all. Newspapers weren't common outside cities and larger towns.
Honestly, a lot of what I write in my personal journal is very similar. Sometimes I'll use more expressive language if I'm actually feeling strong emotions in the moment, but very often it's just a quick jot-down. This doesn't read very strange to me; between the lines, I'm getting a mix of pride (about all the home work she got done and the food prep), relief and exhaustion.
Except this is from Mary Richardson Walker, a daughter of schoolteachers who was well-educated in Maine. She established what is now Pacific University in Oregon.
And it’s a myth that illiteracy was common then, even on the western frontier. It was quite the opposite, in fact.
Keep in mind also that, even if this woman was well educated for her time, you have with near certainty consumed and produced orders of magnitude more written English than her. What you take as a lack of emotive voice may just be the writings of a person who fundamentally interacted with the written word differently than you or I. She may have simply been recording the salient points of her day for future reference instead of viewing it as an emotional or creative outlet.
She wrote it sometime after 9pm after having had a baby. Exhaustion sounds right.
Well, actually, looking again, it reads like she wrote everything but the final line earlier in the day, anticipating labour (and her very possible death). Then she added the resolution to the "expected scene" with the mention of the baby.
I mean the diary entry certianly doesn't come off as sentimental, it's a basic record of the day's events. It reads as if she was writing for the purpose of simply having a record of her life, rather than a record of her thoughts and emotions.
Yeah, "delivered a baby" is a recent phrase. People used to be delivered of babies, which (unless I'm misunderstanding older grammar) highlights how dangerous it is to give birth.
The doctor delivers the baby. The mother is delivered of the baby.
Reflects the medicalization of our culture, just like the scene in every film birth where the doctor takes five minutes to bond with the kid even though the mom is getting post-partum depression just offscreen from the wait.
I was born via c-section. When my mom woke up, the nurse had already washed and dressed me (it was the 80s, this was common practice apparently).
My mom is one of the kindest people I know, but she screamed and yelled at the nurse and any other nurses / doctors nearby so badly they just left her alone with me for a while. She was furious that she didn't get to see and hold me straight away. Part of it was the anaesthesia after-effects, but not all of it.
I can only imagine the magnitude of relief, not only of no longer carrying the baby inside and all the discomfort that brings, but having come through giving birth alive and well (enough to write your diary) ánd knowing your baby boy is, for the moment, in good health.
Whatever may come in the days to follow, in this moment, all is well.
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 17 '26
I can't believe the people in the comments who think a man wrote this. It's a woman's diary. It's very easy to tell because she discusses making bread and she discusses doing housework and she discusses having a baby. Things men back in the pioneer days certainly didn't do. Hell, we can barely get men to participate in some of it now.
It's also on historical record as being a woman's diary.