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1859. not as I did right, but I knew not how I could present the matter to him. He counts in this way," One, two, three, four, six, eight, ten." (T.S.R. 49. 2 P.M. 88. S.S. 77.) May 17. Tuesday. This morning, Uncle and Aunt started for Sac. there to take the boat for San Francisco, and George and Susie accompanied them. Mr. Wallace has been here at work today, and took dinner and supper with us. This afternoon Mr. Philip Megerle made us a short call. I have written to my parents. The subjects of my letter were - Wedding - Singular coincidence of making dress and place of commencing house. Keeping. Uncle and Aunt left - Laying cornerstone of Methodist church - Children - Turner Reed robbed - Case at Insane Asylum. This evening, we have been to hear Rev. Dr. Peck preach at the schoolhouse. It was indeed a good sermon, and should have been, for the subject is one which suggests such good and pleasant thoughts. The text was - 1 Pet. 1.8. "Whom having not seen, ye love, and in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Delightful theme! a favorite with me. I love to think upon it, and how glad should I be, if, many times, I could shake off the cloud of care and worldliness that settles so often and thickly about me, and contemplate the love of Christ. Dr. Peck gave some reasons why we love Christ. For what he is in himself, and what he has done for us. He then spoke of the effects of such love on ourselves. It makes us joyful, calm and happy, and helps us to live above the world and its cares. This theme is an inexhaustible one, and I really enjoyed hearing him enlarge upon it. There were quite a number of strangers present at the meeting. Of these, Mr. & Mrs. Owen and Miss Blossom accompanied us home and will spend the night with us. The corner-store is to be laid tomorrow, and they have come to be present. (T.S.R. 54. 2 P.M. 84. S.S. 66.) 1859. May 18. Wednesday. Our friends left us after breakfast. At eleven o'clock, the corner-store of the Methodist church was laid. Addressed were delivered by Rev. Dr. Peck, Elder Owen, Mr. Hill, and some packages of the newspapers of the day were deposited in a box in a place left for it in the large piece of granite called the corner-store. Also some pieces of coin in present use were deposited there, and some documents relative to the church and Sabbath school. I did not attend, as I did not care to exert myself sufficiently to go with the children, but Dr. who was there, says the exercises were quite interesting. This evening we have attended a lecture by Dr. Peck at the schoolhouse. The subject was - "Authors and Readers." He placed his remarks under three heads. 1st. "The Americans are a reading people, eminently so." To prove this, he stated the large amount of books and papers which it required to supply the people with reading matter, and the number of books which were issued yearly from the largest publishing houses in the country. It is truly astonishing that there is such a demand for reading matter. His second position was. "We are likely to believe what we read." It is natural for us to place confidence in what an author says, because there is always, at least, some truth mixed with what is written, even though it may be mostly false hood. And because as we read, we recognize some truth, it makes us all the more likely to believe the rest of what is stated, though we may not have been acquainted with it before. 3rd. "We are inclined to become assimilated to the characters of the books we read." This has been proved again and again. A man's politics may be known, almost to a certainty, by the papers he reads. Nood - readers have their tastes perverted, and themselves unfitted for real life. How carefully should we select our reading, and especially, how wisely should parents select reading for their children.
Date Original
May 1859
Dates Covered
1858-1861
Source
Original diary dimensions: 22 x 33 cm.
Resource Identifier
Locke_Diary_1858-1861_Image080.tif
Publisher
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Rights Management
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Keywords
Delia Locke, diaries, women, diarist, California, Locke-Hammond Family Papers, Lockeford, CA, Dean Jewett Locke, rural life, rural California, 19th Century, church, temperance organizations, Mokelumne River Ladies' Sewing Circle, temperature recordings, journal
